16 Friday, August 10, 1984
, - •
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
NEWS
Healing the Holocaust's wounds
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leave Germany. Finally, we got a
Cuban visa for her — at that time you
could still buy one — which cost us
$600. That was a lot of money at a
time when a corned beef sandwich
only cost 15c. But she never made it.
And the $600 was lost too."
Meanwhile, circumstances had
changed for Dr. Feuer's family in Be-
rlin, much as they had for virtually
all remaining German Jews once the
sham window dressing of the Olym-
pics was dismantled. As Dr. Feuer
explains, "In Berlin we had a
neighbor who had a• three-year-old
little girl. All of a sudden, when Hit-
ler came to power, this little girl
never came over to our house and her
parents no longer even said hello to
us. They lived next door to us, so they
saw my parents every day.
"One night, it must have been
about 2 a.m. my mother later said,
this man knocked at our door. My
mother was terribly afraid to answer
the door but she 'Don't be afriad
Mrs. Feuer,' the man old her, 'I really
have something important to tell
you.'
"This man had been out of work
for a long time, but now he worked for
the Gestapo. He wasn't a member,
just an employee in their office. But
he told my father: 'We have a list of
people who will be picked up and you,
Mr. Feuer, are on the day list. And if
your name appears on the day list,
then they will never come for you at
night. That means that if you hide all
day long in the forest at Grunewald
(a suburb of Berlin), you can come
home after dark. And if you leave at
5:00 each morning, nothing will ever
happen to you.
"It was all so organized. Who-
ever was supposed to be picked up
during the day wasn't picked up at
night. And vice versa. Our neighbor
also advised my mother what to tell
them, 'that your husband has left you
and that you would be very happy if
the Gestapo would pick him up. But
be very enthusiastic about it or they
won't believe you.' •
"Well, my father hid in
Grunewald during the day and the
Gestapo came twice to our home. My
mother played her part very well and
the Gestapo never came back again."
Dr. Feuer's parents and sister
emigrated to the United States in
1938. The doctor established his med-
ical practice in New York and in 1949
he moved to Detroit. A chance meet-
ing with the German consul at a 1957
social gathering led to the invitation
to become the official medical exam-
iner of the Holocaust survivors in
Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Ken-
tucky. "At that time," says Dr. Feuer,
"the consulate had received many
complaints from the survivors about
the doctor handling the examina-
tions — a former nobleman named
von-something-or-other. The consul
did not want people to think he was
_there purposely to intimidate the
survivors, so he asked if I would take
,
"Am dibtOii trtiwkit bt 4i;t=
cause I realized I could do something
for my people, and I thanked God that
I could be in a position of helping in
this respect.
"And that is how it came about
that I examined practically every
Holocaust survivor in Michigan for
over 25 years. Occasionally I would
even help them file for, claims. My
wife is with the Jewish Family Serv-
ice — the resettlement service. There
is no form that she does not know how
to fill out. But after 25 years of this
work, I am afraid that I have really
had enough. It was absolutely ner-
vewracking. I had at ledst one inter-
view and examination of a Holocaust
survivor every day, and some of them
were extremely traumatic.
"There were some who did not
want to accept what they called
`blood money' for their suffering. One
of the richest men in town came to me
for his examination. He said he was
here because of his wife, he wanted
no part of this blood money, 'Fine,' I
told him, 'if your claim goes through,
every time your monthly check
comes, put it aside and give it to char-
ity.' I don't know if he does, but I do
know that he gives a lot to good
causes."
Often Dr. Feuer would dream
about the things he. heard from sur-
vivors "as if I were there when it hap-
pened." Although he nominally still
handles assignments for the German
Consulate General, most of the re-
stitution claim work was completed
within the last ten years. He says he
would give up the job now but "no-
body wants it. You can't make any
money at it."
"I realized I could do
something for my people,
and I thanked God that I
could be in a position of
helping in this respect."
The Feuers have four children.
Alan, 31, was once the Michigan di-
rector of Common Cause. He was an
unsuccessful candidate for Jack Fa-
xon's state senate seat and later
served as Doug Ross' right-hand man
in the direction of the Michigan
Youth Corps. He is now a political
consultant.' Susan runs a Head Start
program in Inkster. Peggy and
Sandra live in California. Sandra is
the former head of the Professional
Young Adult Division of the Jewish
Welfare Federation in Detroit and is
now with the American Jewish
Committee in Los Angeles.
Dr. Feuer is the honorary chair-
man of the Israel Cancer Association
of Detroit and is head of the Detroit
group of Americans for a Progressive
4:tifrki;X*441.447 4:44 4 4"