Opinion
Survivors And Liberators
Nancy and Robert Schostak
Community View
0
n April 13-15, we were able to
experience the 2010 national
Days of Remembrance tribute
dinner in Washington honoring the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum's board
chairman, Fred Zeidman of Houston.
Aside from the obvious success of
crowd size and dollars raised (often the
measurement of success at communal
dinners — $1.3 million and 930 people
in attendance, both record-setting num-
bers for the museum), we had the honor
of being with 120 World War II veterans
who were among the liberators of the
Nazi Germany concentration and death
camps. These were American heroes who
many of us had never met face-to-face
to thank them for what they did for our
people.
During the 2 1/2 days of programming,
we had the pleasure of meeting sev-
eral of these "Greatest
Generation" heroes
and watched a slide
show of photographs of
them from the war. We
shared discussions on
what they saw, felt and
did for our people.
Imagine us, sitting at
meals and programs,
observing the tears of
survivors and the lib-
erators who were meet-
ing for the first time.
Most liberators,
similar to the survi-
vors, were unable to tell
their story for so many
years, but when asked
about these few days in Washington, the
response was, "This entire experience has
been overwhelming. We had no idea of
the support we would experience from
the Jewish people?'
As perhaps you can feel from our
words, the entire week's program was a
unique mixture of emotions for all. The
experience as we sat in the Capitol
Rotunda for the closing ceremony,
attended by leaders from the administra-
tion, members of the House and Senate,
Israel Ambassador to the U.S. Michael
Oren and a featured address given by U.S.
General David H. Petraeus was, to the
rest of us, overwhelming, too!
As the 120 veterans walked into the
Rotunda, now in their late 80s and 90s
and wearing the insignias of their mili-
tary units, the emotion we all felt watch-
ing the survivors and liberators punctu-
ated the moment.
The general told the veterans that
today's men and women in uniform
stand on the shoulders of their genera-
tion's deeds. He shared how their actions
were among the noblest of the World War
II missions when they rescued the survi-
vors of the camps. The liberators, he went
on to say, know that their actions inspire,
even today, the men and women who
wear our nation's uniform.
We watched as these veterans, many
of them with tears in their eyes, saluted
the general and the flags of their units as
they were marched out by today's men
and women of the U.S. Armed Forces.
A Special Moment
We met a liberator who was from Grand
Rapids — how delighted and proud, as
Jews from Michigan, we were to be with a
fellow Michigander.
He was with the
unit that included
Japanese American
fighters who liberated
the Dachu concentra-
tion camp. His name
is Virgil Westdale, 92.
I asked him about
his first experience at
Dachu. He saw in the
foggy, hazy distance
what could be people
in the woods; not
being sure if they were
SS or what, because
when the Germans
surrendered, their
army and the SS ran
into the forests. At
the same time, he said, the prisoners
didn't quite know what had happened
and didn't realize they were Americans
because they were a Japanese American
unit.
"We then realized the folks we saw in
the distant woods were very sick people,
eating raw horsemeat to survive. We
found the cremation oven still warm
and the survivors were rather uncertain,
because of our skin color and eyes, of
who we were."
Once they realized that American, not
Japanese, troops had arrived, the survi-
vors began to cry.
Westdale went on to share with us that
dozens — hundreds — of very sick,
weak and starving people came down out
of the hills; the word had spread we were
Imagine us,
sitting at meals
and programs,
observing the tears
of survivors and the
liberators who were
meeting for the first
time.
34
May 13 2010
Nancy and Robert Schostak leave the Capitol following the April 13-15 programming
for the national Days of Remembrance.
Americans. "We gave them blankets, car-
ried them, gave them our food and tried
to nurse them to health."
Westdale recently finished writing
a book about his life as a farm boy,
pilot, inventor, Transportation Security
Administration officer and World War
II soldier with the 442nd Regimental
Combat Team.
The museum fully sponsored the liber-
ators' expenses and that of their families
to join this year's program.
Another wonderful decision by the
museum's leadership was to honor the
Johns family on the loss of their father
and husband, Stephen Johns, the secu-
rity guard who was gunned down at the
museum entrance in June 2009.
Stephen Johns Jr. participated in the
candle-lighting ceremony in the Capitol
Rotunda with, among others, U.S. Rep.
Eric Cantor, R-Va. He was mentioned
throughout the program memorializing
the tragic loss of a member of the muse-
um family.
These museums truly are living memo-
rials and we grew to understand the
power of those words.
We were honored and humbled to
share this experience with our regional
co-chairs, Mickey and Karen Shapiro.
We all should be so grateful for the work
of the museum, led by our dear friend,
its chairman and 2010 honoree Fred
Zeidman.
❑
Nancy and Robert Schostak are Bloomfield
Hills residents.