Survivor recounts Holocaust


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Holocaust survivor Zenon Neumark spoke about his struggles and experiences during World War II at Popovich Hall on Monday.

At the age of 17, Neumark escaped from a labor camp, where he was held until a day before the camp was dissolved. Alone and without any weapons, Neumark avoided capture. The other inmates were taken to a concentration camp.

“The day before the camp was being liquidated, the commander of the camp told me, ‘Young man, escape if you can; tomorrow will be too late,’” Neumark said.

He escaped the camp next morning and lived for a few days in town, after which he made his way to Warsaw, Poland. According to Neumark, he was betrayed by his friends in Warsaw but at the same time, he had some good experiences with people who assisted him. He mentioned how one family helped him when he sent a note to them and asked them if he could stay there.

“I knocked on the door in the evening, and a lady and her daughter said they were glad I came and that I shouldn’t let her husband know. Two days later, her husband told me that he knew I was there and he brought me a piece of bread and marmalade along with a glass of milk. They were decent people,” Neumark said.

While living in Poland, Neumark joined three organizations, one Jewish and two Polish. After that he was taken to a camp in Vienna, Austria. He was freed when Russia liberated Vienna in 1945.

“I never had any grudges against people who didn’t help. The only people I did feel angry towards were friends who didn’t help,” Neumark said. “There were people who risked their lives and also the lives of their families, and still helped. About a 100,000 Jews did survive the war and they all needed the help of at least one non-Jew for food, shelter or documents. So they did get help.”

The average rate of murder per day was 10,000 people, according to Neumark. He said that he believed the propaganda and cult of personality cultivated by the Nazi Party as the main reason they were able to initiate the Holocaust.

“Nazis were the biggest deceivers and liars that were ever created,” Neumark said. “They used it as their tool.”