A

t this time of year, as we
observe Passover, I always
think back to spring of the
year 1945. I was transferred
into a replacement depot awaiting reas-
signment.
It was getting close to Passover. I
asked the unit commander if there
would be a seder. He suggested that I
ask to see the Jewish chaplain, who
asked me if I would be available to help
arrange for a seder. He had me tern-
porarily reassigned to him, and I would
now be a "chaplain's assistant" through
Passover.
I asked him how I could help, what
could I do? He said, "Simple, just find a
place to hold a seder" for "several hun-
dred." He assigned me a jeep and
arranged for a non-Jewish, German-
speaking chaplain's assistant to work
,
with me.
All we knew was that we needed to
find a place big enough to accommo-
date an unknown number of people in
a hostile environment.
However, with the euphoria of win-
ning the war (we thought the war in
Europe was almost over), we were in a
very good mood! And the Germans, at
least in the Aachen area, knew that they
had lost the war.
Aachen was the first major city in
Germany to fall to the Allies.
There were a lot of damaged build-
ings, few large enough to accommodate
several hundred people. Only the City
Hall seemed large enough. We walked
in and asked to see the mayor. I was
immediately ushered into his office.
As soon as he saw my uniform, he
stood up and saluted (not the Nazi
salute). He asked me what he could do
for us. I showed him my dog tags with
the "H" for Hebrew, and I told him
that PassOver was coming soon, and
that we needed a place to hold a seder
and that City Hall would be the ideal
place. He turned beet red, clicked his

.Norman Michlin is a Bloomfield Hills
resident.

heels and asked me when we needed
the space; he assured me he would
cooperate.
We sent special letters to all the com-
pany headquarters in the area to advise
them of the upcoming seder. The night
of the seder, we were set up for about
200 people; we had enough matzah for
a lot more. The first to show up were
people like myself, who were just "pass-
ing through."
As the rabbi (chaplain) was about to
start, about 75 to 125 men started
straggling in from the front. Most were
still wearing muddy boots and combat
gear with carbines slung over their
shoulders.
Throughout the service, more men
came. Just as we were about to come to
the part in the service that says, "We
were slaves to the Pharaoh in Egypt"
and that we as individuals were freed,
about a dozen recently freed slave labor-
ers (not from concentration camps) qui-
etly walked in. (At that late date, I did-
n't believe all the stories we were hearing
about the concentration camps. We
thought that it was propaganda.)
It was not until a month or two later,
when I arrived at Dachau a day after its
liberation, that I saw the incredible,
unbelievable site of starving and dying
human beings, the dead and almost
dead. We may have unknowingly hur-
ried their dying because we gave them
our rations. They wolfed down the food
so rapidly that their bodies might not
have been able to handle it. Anyway,
that is another story.
The fact is that, when we spoke,
"We were all slaves unto the Pharaoh in
Egypt" and looked at the just-released
"slaves," we all cried. There wasn't a dry
eye in the place. And when we read
and we must consider that we our-
selves were slaves unto the Pharaoh," we
all looked around at each other.
How lucky we were! We were in the
right place at the right time. We were
lucky to be alive, to help overthrow the
biggest and worst tyrant of modern
times.
That was a seder I will never forget as
long as I live.

o * oo o * o o on—a o ol

NORMAN MICHLIN
Special to the Jewish News

o o n. oil,

Looking back on the Passover of 1945
in Aachen, Germany.

l o * n. * * * o 4:1.

Seder To
Remember

* *

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* * * * * * * X: , * * X: ,

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Yeshivat Akiva invites the
Community to a Celebration

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14-11 /”"

53

1 0 1

in honor of the

53rd Anniversary
..
of the State of Israel

Years

4.
x:x

at Yeshivat Akiva

21100 W. 12 Mile Road . Southfield

Wednesday, April 25, 2001 at 7:30p

Yom Ha'atzmaut 2001

5761

nifinsin

or*

Festive Mincha - Maariv services at 7:30pm

in the Beit Knesset with celebrations to follow.

,

.

4

Dancing and Singing
with the musical sensation

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.

Yaniv

•

- •

with the
Segulah Orchestra

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Sponsors

Akiva P.T.A. • American Jewish Committee, Michigan Region • Friends of Akiva
Greater Sephardic Community of Detroit • Jewish Community Council
Zionist Organization of America • Dr. & Mrs. Jerry Kaufman • Joe Savin

4'

Festivities, falafel and light refreshments

4,

The entire community is welcome to attend and celebrate!

*

Join us for the fun!

No Charge

*

For more information& to R.S.V.P. by April 15 to
ilml41116
Arleen Platt (248) 948-7136 or Julie Sherizen (248) 398-7316
Yeshivat Akiva - 21100 West 12 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48076

1111
11.6
:1'

*

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pou

*

x:x

*

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Q

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Q

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*

Educational Exchange

Letters and Stories of Zionists:
The Birth and Growth of a Movement

Come and hear

Dr. Leonard Lachover

Psychiatrist and Letter Collector

Monday, April 23, 2001
8:00 - 9:30 p.m.

rAvreirt YMCHERV • 28555 Orchard Lake Rd, Farmington Hills

(1/2 mile south of 13 Mile, on the west side of Orchard Lake Rd.)

For more information, please contact Debbie Ornstein at the
Agency for Jewish Education, (248) 645-7860.

A program of

jew a K6Y
education
To

Experience a fun and informal way to learn, meet new people,
have a nosh and unwind.

4/13
2001

55

