Transcripts For CSPAN2 Max Eisen By Chance Alone 20240713

Dedicated to fighting antisemitism and bigotry. The museum has challenged visitors intellectually to understand the ways in which dehumanization of a people can evolve to deeply destructive ends. People inherit or mission to never forget and to combat intoll ran that endures to this day. If youre interested in receiving any information of upcoming events, please join our mailing list, a signin sheet can be found at the at missions desk. I also invite you to become a member of the museums vibrant community. Were honored to have you with us today to celebrate the haul cost surviveogy, author, max eisen. At 15, mr. Eisen was saved from certain death at allwitness by a polish physician who employed him as a cleaner in his operating room. Mr. Eisens 2016 memoir by chance alone i chron hell us persistence, liberation, and continuing aling after miraculously surveying auschwitz. By chance alone received canadas top literaryward in 2019. Tonight we sell integrate the launch of the books american edition. We have the privilege of hearing mr. Eisen in conversation with veteran producer of 60 minutes, shari finkelstein. Leslie stall was held up in washington for the impeachment coverage. At the conclusion of tonights program, we invite you to join mr. Eisen for a book signing in the lobby by chance alone. It is available for purchase in our museum shop. We are honored to be joined tonight by the act Council General of the canadian consulate in new york, mark gordon, executive Committee Member of the usc Foundation Board of counselors, elie reuben stein, national director, march of the living in canada, Phyllis Greenberg hideman, president of the international march of the living, and cantor with guy tartist guitarist. We want to thank the Hanover Square press and the foundation. Before we begin please take a moment to silence your cellphones to avoid any disruptions during the program. Thank you. And now please join me in welcoming our first speaker tonight, acting canadian counsel general, khawar nasim. Thank you, riotly. I was not held up by the impeachment hearings in washington. Speak. What anen credible honor it is to be here with all of you today to pay tribute to truly remarkable man and extraordinary canadian, mr. Max eisen. Since we learned of maxs incontribute story my team the consulate general has been seeking an opportunity to bring mr. Eisen to new york. I have to say for a man of his age, he has a very busy schedule it and was not easy to get him here. Thank you, max, for joining us and thank you to hanover press, usc foundation, the international march of thely and the museum of jewish heritage for bringing max their tell his story. As a diplomat ive head many incarnations. I i spent time in europe and one of the most memorable opportunities for me as a family was to visit poland and to travel to auschwitz with my family, with my wife, with my son, and to see and to share with them the tragedies, the horrors and the legacy of auschwitz. I am deeply and profoundly inspired by the courage and strength of Holocaust Survivors who despite the depth of the evil fay faced and despite the complexity of the emotion understand the holocaust needs to be real for to who were not there reconcile the up speakable herors of the shoah with endue are faith in humanity. Canada has been profoundly shaped by the approximately 40,000 Holocaust Survivors re schmidt our country after the holocaust, and i must add, canada has acknowledged the devastating results of our own inaction and apathy towards jews in the nazi were a when in 1939 jewish refugees onboard the ms st. Louis were turned away, and for which our Prime Minister issued a formal apology in our house of commons in november of 2018. The lessons of the holocaust are clear, but need to be repeated. As Prime Minister trudeau has said, never again, is not a phrase, its a promise. A promise to stand up to the dangers of hatred and discrimination and the irre versable consequences consequenf inaction and indifference. As a new yorker, we know all too well and as recent horrific antisemitic attacks in new york has made it clear hatred has not run its course on this earth. We must be vigilant because we know that the modern tools to promote hate are infinitely more sophisticated than the radio, newspaper and film. Speaking with the colleagues and learning im inspired by the saying, whoever saves a single life, saves an entire world. And given the Ripple Effect of maxs unyielding commitment to educate younger generations pout the dangers of racism and bigotry, i think we can say that by saving max, this surgeon saved much more than one. The opportunity to hear a firsthand account from a survivor is becoming increasingly rare. Im so honored to be with you, all here this evening, to hear max share his story. I hope well all leave here tonight with a heightened sense of duty to condemn intolerance and defend human rights in our everyday lives. Please join me in welcoming aviva rajsky, daughter of a holocaust survivor and a senior creantor. She traveled with mr. Eisen on the 2015 march of the living where she conducted the choir at the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony in auschwitz. She will be joined and accompanied be a grammy Award Winning guitarist whose parents were all cause doing holocaust survive you. I thank you all and look forward to a wonderful evening. [applause] it is an event to sing at this wonderful event in tribute to max eisen, one of most remarkable people i have ever met. I had the privilege of traveling we max on the 2015 march of the living when i led the march of the living choir that year. And so this evening i would like to share with you a few of the songs that the students and i sang on that very moving trip. Id like to invite my colleague and dear friend, elie rube enseen to give context to the songs im going to sing. Good evening the first song is a song written as she walked along the shore of the sea in the land of sailor in the early 1940s. He was born in hungary in 1921 but because of the antisemitism she experience shed emgated to palestine to help build the you jewish state. She returned to fight against the nazis but a was caught, tortured and county by the nazis in 1944 and left if with this remarkable poem, whose words remind us of the beauty of nature, the san and the sea, the rush of the waters, the thundering of heavens but she was robbed of far too early in her young life. The sand and the sea the rush of the water the cries of the heavens the prayer of the heart the sand and the sea the rush of the water the cries of the heavens the prayer of the heart [applause] every time we sing this song with the children on the march of the living, in a very place that hitler south destroy the jew quiche people we now the spirit, values, lessons that her life represents continues to live on and in that way were making a statement, hitler you did not win, we will return here year after year, reciting the words of the very people you tried to annihilate. Our next song reflects a similar sentiment of hope and defiance. Written in the 12th century, the words express an undying belief that one day redemption will come to humanity. Many jews recited these very worried their last breath before the perished in gas chambers, still believing a better day would arrive. Sing with me [applause] thank you. It is now my pleasure to invite the stage mark gordon, member of the executive committee of the shoah Foundation Board of counselors and will share with us a joint project between the Shoah Foundation and the match of the living involving the testimony of max eisen. [applause] thank you. On behalf of the usc Shoah Foundation im grateful to be here tonight to honor and celebrate max eisen and the release of his memoirs here in the u. S. I want to thank our colleagues a hanover press for publishing and making this work so widely available. We want to thank the museum of jewish heritage for hosting tonights event, and to the Council General of canada for the long support and involvement. We want to thank the international march of the living for the partnership swing the march of the living and the Shoah Foundation for including us the is in auspicious event tonight. The usc Shoah Foundation began working with max and his family in 2019 through the partnership with the international march of the living and together the organizations have a joint project to gather the testimonies Holocaust Survivors in a 360degree method in the authentic only locations. Together were working to film at least ten survivors as they take us on a downgroom their home towns to the sites of liberation, sharing their unique and permanent stories in the places where they experienced them. Eventually the testimonies will be deeply integrated into the programs and experiences created by the march of the living. Max is one of four survivors so far who have participated and been filmed on location. Our team traveled with max to the Auschwitz State Museum with the shared the story with us and his son who was on the march for the first time. We traveled to show vac ya and his home town slovakia where max recalled this childhood and invite is to to share what is likely his last goodbye to his home town. A once vibrant prewar jewish community. It witness until be frothing because of this 360 on location interview and the loving details he so generously included in his memoirs. This all in addition to the usc Shoah Foundation having not one but two life history speier interviews of max in our ire archives, rolledded in 1990s by the Shoah Foundation and once filmed by the Holocaust Education center, both are accessible through the visual history archive. That testimony is among the 55,000 survivor testimonies that are now accessible or available through over 160 universities and museums on Six Continents around the world and theres of course this book, which is what we are here to celebrate today. Now, as i understand it max did not always wish to tell his story. In the prologue to the book, he talks about the fact when he first spoke publicly about the holocaust and his experiences at st. Joseph high school in toronto he was very nervous and said he would not do it again. And i think this was a very common reaction among survivors at that time. If i may tell a personal story, i, too have i have an uncle max had an uncle max who survived auschwitz, and emigrated to toronto, where he built a family and lived a life. I visited my uncle max in the summer of 1990, shortly after, maybe a month or two after i had been on a trip to eastern unand visited auschwitz, and over dinner i told of my travels and he asked me, maybe two or three questions, about auschwitz and what i had seen there, and after dinner, his son, harvey, my cousin, who was 34 at the time, said to me, you know in my entire life thats the most if ever heard my father talk about his experiences. And i said, well, why do you think that is . He said, well, his attitude is, what would be the point who n who would listen. It would just be complaining to our children. To my children. And so i think we are as individuals all here incredibly indebted frankly to organizations leak the usc Shoah Foundation, like the international march of the living, like the museum of jewish heritage, and organizations like the hanover press, who have created outlets or forum for and a structure around hearing and learning the stories of the survivors so they could be passed down so we could learn from them and so that hopefully never again. Most importantly, of course, we are indebted to survivors like max, who did speak, again and again, at countless colleges and universities, high schools, public events. I think he has led 21 trips to allwitness where he educate both students and adults and shared his experiences in addition to giving his testimony, participating in the 360degree video of with the international march of the living, and of course, publishing this memoir. Id like now to share with you a short video that shows the behind the scenes of our time with max and his son when we filmed the 360degree video that will be incorporated into the march thereof livings programs. You can see the intensity with which max committed himself to telling the story. Could somebody play the video. Always been difficult to express his feelings to family. Theres always ban void there an area you couldnt get. To you cant access that part of him. Hes able to speak the strangers more so in ways expressing feelings than he is with his own family. [applause] id like to invite back eli ruben rubenstein. Thank you, mark. Im honored to be able to introduce the main part of the program, the part were about to hear from max eisen himself. Ive been travel wig max on the march of living for well over 20 years now and each time continued to be inspired by his courage, wisdom and is eloquence. Recall the early 2000s being with max for a weekend conference training our educators and chaperones traveling to poland in the march of the living. Also we were milling bought the reception area of the conference center, a group of queens students passed by. They noticed one of our staff was carrying a scroll of the law. The ancient five books moses written by hand on parch empty. Max patiently explained to the stupid what the scrolls represented. He concluded by informing during the holocaust the nazis burned thousands of sacred jewish he reminded the students where they burned books they in the end burned people. The spellbound students were mesmerized during mansions short speech and only reluctantly tore themselves away to return to the school activities. He realized max was a born teacher, natural educator who had both a desire and ability to share his story and the lessons of the holocaust with the most diverse audiences and the clearest, most accessible manner inch moment of teaching dismiss max has replicated thousands of times, sharing his story of love and loss. Eli said to be jew after the holocaust is to have every treason give up your belief in god, and to abandon your trust in all humanity. To have every reason to give up your faith in good, give up on the jewish people and abandon your trust in all humanity but still not to do so. And max, like so many other survivors, perfectly emt semi identifies the sentiment. He did not abandon his faith or give up on humanity. Instead he continued to dedicate every day of his life, around the clock to teaching the lessons of shoah to young and old alike so it will never, ever happy again. In that effort max remind us of a quote, if you believe the world can be broken, also believe it can be fixed. If you believe the world can be bren, also believe it can be fixed. So, thank you, max, from the bottom of all of our hearts for not giving into despair, not giving up 0 on the world even though he had every recent to do. So indeed were all the better for it. [applause] in a moment id like to invite to the statement my teacher, my hero, my meant youre, max eisen. Max will be interview by shary finkelstein of 60 minutes, they are producing a story on maxs life and she is familiar with maxs story. Max and shari, please. [applause] thank you. In the beginning of your life before these horrors. Tell us a little bit about your family, where you lived, i know as czechoslovakia then became part of hungary but what was your home life, your home, your family, before the war . Czechoslovakia was a democratic country. We jews had plenty golden years and czechoslovakia. President how much we considered him as our grandfather and i live in a town of about 5000 people. We jews were 10 of the population. Approximately nine jewish families and i would say 99 percent of these families were traditional Orthodox Jews and they were Small Business people, farmers, and my town there was two jewish doctors. There was a jewish dentist. A jewish book butcher, baker and beautiful Jewish Synagogue and we had a, torah which is a school, jewish school, cantor, rabbi, its amazing looking at towns in toronto where its very difficult for all the jewish communities to get together and this was a beautiful jewish community. I live in a large dwelling with my paternal grandparents and uncle and aunt. In many jewish people extended Families Together and imagine so many people would be taking care of you or i was going by smell who was bringing the best cooking that particular day. Because you are all literally in the same a the same dwelling. A large lshaped house we lived in the front part in the leg of the l so we had my mothers kitchen a woodstove and bedrooms every bedroom had a fireplace made of tiles, ceramic tiles. There was no Running Water we had a well in the yard we had a beautiful house. And an outhouse but ahead two younger brothers and the center of the house lived my paternal grandparents and my aunt bella who was an invalid and my grandmother had own kitchen and bedrooms and my aunt had another kitchen and bedrooms and so on. Hence the kitchen choices. Lots of choices. When i think of fiddler on the roof he said, how lucky he would be if he could have so many chickens. We had chickens, geese and ducks roaming all over the place and a big vegetable garden and we had a huge orchard with fruit trees. Life was wonderful at first 10 years of my life, was born in a as czechoslovakia was the first victim of nazi germany abin 1938 mike into his petition. We were given to hungary and we knew we were in mortal denture when this happened 1938 it was too late we chose to leave and finding out much later there was nowhere people would take jews in any way. When this happened you go from democratic lifestyle and the fascist country, hungary was a fascist country remember so vividly and 38 my father had a crystal radio and somehow managed to find out that hitler was making a very important speech in berlin and remember all his friends my father mustve been in his late 30s. They all came to our home to listen to this radio speech. This was the language we spoke in my home. I remember hitler said, we are going to eradicate the jews from the face of the world. I was nine years old and i knew something in my gut told me something terrible was going to happen i had no idea what and i remember seeing the faces of the holy people in your nine and your father is 3090 think hes old man. He was sort of green in the face and this was the tension and czechoslovakia. These edicts were being posted in my town. The jews were smart, numbered, we were in school hungarian teachers made us sit in the back of the classroom we were segregated 5 00 a. M. To 7 00 a. M. Going to school we were less than 10 of the student body. Other edicts being posted on a daily basis. Jewish businesses were confiscated. This was to boycott the west jews. My mother had a helper named anna, this is one of the edicts the jews could not employ nonjewish people. My mother had her hands full she became a single mother because in 1941 all ablebodied men had to report to battalions. The breadwinners were taken away for many years. And yet it came out that jews could not employ nonjewish people. So i had to leave and she didnt want to go in the shandong move them from our home so im just thinking the changing scene for my mother handling this whole family and looking at three kids and eventually and 43 she gave birth to a little girl and that was not a good year for a jewish mother to give birth to a jewish child. I remember our job became so difficult and we all had to pitch in and i was still abmy mother in her wisdom since away to the capital city of our providence the large city i became an apprentice working in a shop. First shot. Looking back my mother was my Guardian Angel she made sure we always had good shoes good winter boots to make sure our ankles would be strong and she got us a balanced diet and all these things i cannot imagine how she did all these things singlehanded as her helper was gone. My grandfather who was truly a man of the land, all the grandfathers in my town fought in the First World War and the hungarian empire. These were men from the country they knew aband every grandfather had an emperor ab my grandfather taught me a lot of work skills and life skills and my uncles were on my maternal side of my family they live in slovakia so i think they taught me a lot of things which really i think help me survive the one euro is incarcerated by the nazis. In 44 aband 43 my aunt bella was an invalid, she died, in hindsight it was truly a gift from god because i cannot imagine how we would have coped with her a year later she taught me how to read books i was able to read. I read all the books by jewish women when i was eight years old i could read at a very early age and i just loved books ever sense and she was the only member of my family buried, gasket was made for my fathers number of art ab lumber yard and she was buried in the cemetery. The rest of the family who were deported wound up being deported on the first day of passover in 1944. I was going to ask you about that because you had a seder that evening and as you are obviously saying his memory is unbelievable for detail and when you all read the book if you havent already you will, theres many more. Anyway, tell us about the seder. Looking back, 1944 imagine jews in hungary about 7000 jews in hungary, didnt know what was going on just across the carpathian mountains in occupied poland. This is got to be a message to us forever not knowing the terrible thing. Who would have thought my grandfather said, jews were emancipated by aashley would never do things like that i keep saying today we know a lot of things are happening and we do nothing about it. Its a terrible mistake. We were celebrating passover, we had ample food in 44. We needed certain things but life went on. My father and uncle were home it was truly a miracle. They were somewhere in the southern part of hungary, which was accessed by hungary from yugoslavia and 39 and there was a beautiful seder to my little sister was about nine months old and sat around this beautiful table and asked questions and we told the story of exodus we retired about 12 we knew the next morning we would walk leisurely to the synagogue and celebrate the second seder the second night. That night the first night of seder was on shabbat night on friday night so it was shabbat in the first night of passover. My father and my grandfather my uncle were out in the yard about after dinner and talking and my grandfather said, if we managed to hold out another four or five months we would be liberated by the army. We hungabfour months later afte we were deported Hungary Red Army arrived from the east Early Morning abbroke our gate and kicked in our door and yelling and screaming, they dont have to provide a warrant to come in the Company Simply kick your door in. Hungarian abin the big gun with the two foot band fixed and yelling and screaming if you have money or jewelry to hand it over. Because we were you are going you have no need of this. You wonder what hes talking about. My mother had a baby in her arm and she told us to put on layers of clothing. My father said, put your winter boots on. And they want to know the quarters of my grandparents to see how they were doing, my grandfather was 77 years old, very big strong man. My grandmother was 75 a very petite little old lady. We were hauled out from our home he knew this is a terrible encroachment they tried to shoot them and the neighbor came running in and her name was abshe was a christian lady. She said my mother, where are you taking this baby . Why dont you leave the baby with me. I think about it i can hear it and never could stop wondering about it if my mother left my little sister would she have survived. We would never know. But we know history many jews in poland in the ghettos being liquidated they gave the children to the aband they all survived, i would say most of them. And the parents didnt. And then you are hauled out 500 jews put into school, two schoolrooms and he spent the second night of passover instead of having a seder at home on the floor, the next morning 500 jews are assembled in the schoolyard and they have their exodus leaving town to never come back. It was set up like a parade ab this rabbi is really his flock from sexy his wife was an invalid she was carried by her two sons in the chair. Mothers were not allowed to have a carriage or strollers. You can imagine mothers like my Mother Holding a baby in one arm with pencils and cheat on her back. Imagine, and exodus of jews leaving town 500 jews were taken away and 480 didnt come back a year later. Less than 20 of us arrived from my town, one mother, two daughters. Wound up in a big yard, terrible conditions. 30,000 jews in a brickyard with terrible facilities. The toilet that was open open toilet you know toilet you could smell it from miles away. Our food was scarce. Imagine mothers couldnt breastfeed their babies. Every day we were given this propaganda. They told us a story they would be resettled in the east. With the nazi propaganda. And the deception they used and would be working on farms. Families will be together and everything would be fine. So when the petition of czechoslovakia happen, my maternal family was stuck in slovakia and we were stuck and hungry we could never see them. They had a big farm and my uncles and grandmother and beautiful cousins, slovakia was the first country in Central Europe abwe received a telegram put our family disappeared. We were devastated. My mother was devastated. Brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and mother simply disappeared from the face of the earth. We didnt know in 42 what happened. A few months later postcards arrived in my town like my mother and many other mothers fathers who came from the slovak part. There is a stamp that that part the name was general government. The message was we the friedman family all here together. We are working on farms and awaiting your arrival. All the years later that i found out all these slovakian jews, my family were taken to this death camp before they were put into the gas chamber they were abhere i am listening to this officer and i kept thinking that i was there with my beautiful cousin somewhere. You see the deception how it works, unfortunately. We arrived in a cattle car like you see outside here. Imagine 100 people a journey that i cannot describe. Initially they put in water and prepare for toilet and the doors were locked and bolted down. The water was never replaced, the toilet was slopping on the ground it was a mess. It was a terrible thing. My journey was about four days and nights. Think of continental europe, entire landmass. Leaving from brussel, from amsterdam, from paris, from rome, from berlin and budapest, bucharest, all the way to slow locomotives with tons of cattle cars like that with tons of human to the death camps in occupied poland. Millions of jews arrived in this way. Not a single transport abeven though they were occupied. Many had underground, not a single train was subaba documen came out yesterday on pbs, bombing auschwitz, that was one thing but what about the transports d. But on this transport you have no idea where youre going, correct . You continue to think, did the deception continued that you were going to this lovely farm for your whole family was good be together . We didnt know, but the second day we all knew we were in real big trouble. This was not going to be a place of work or whatever. It was the worst the degradation of humanity was so visible. It was the worst ive never seen, i saw my mother the babys cry was gone they couldnt breathe anymore you can write a book of what its like to be abyou arrive on the platform and you are totally a zombie you cant think because they keep telling you misinformation. Dont worry about your bundles you have it delivered you will see your families tomorrow they are being taken for this infection and theres a selection women and men are separated its done really fast. A german guard and abguard saturday when i was at his trial in 2015 and we had to do these things very fast in an orderly fashion and hungarian jews bringing brought in less than three months in 44 450,000 hungarians used with gas and auschwitz in the last part in the war. These trains were arriving around the clock. Aroundtheclock. Did you arrive at night . I arrived in the middle the night. We were all out on this platform. It was flood lines all over and you couldnt see anything behind the flood line. You could see hundreds of little balls it was a huge fire coming up from behind me, flames, several chimneys, i didnt see the chimneys i could see the flames and a terrible stench in the air. I thought it was a Big Industrial factory. My father and uncle and i were selected for slave labor. My mother with my two brothers and baby sister and grandparents they were sent to the left and i knew by the next day they were marched into the gas chamber and 2000 people at a time were gassed. So you get separated you go with your father and uncle, how did you find out what happened . You are 15 years old, you think you are in an industrial facility, how did it become clear what actually was going on there . We were selected we were in the clutches of the ss unit they took away our clothes and shave their heads and shaved our body here, women that were selected for slightly were approached the same way in the womens camp and gave a shower and took away our clothing the only thing we were allowed to keep was our boots. I was able to lie down for a few hours after standing for three days and nights. The next morning we were hauled off from the barrick. It was a beautiful sunday morning and i could see the spread of birkenau, i said what is this place . All i could see barbed wire, i could see for chimneys fire and smoke and ashes coming down we were naked and two men in striped outfits brought a canister of liquid and gave us aband my father asked them are we going to see our families today . Thats what they told us the night before. They were laughing and said where did you come from mark they said we came from hungary in the middle of the night and i can hear this so clearly they said in 1944 you dont know what this place is all a about . They said your families have gone to the chimney. The only way you are out of here is be beaten to death, starve to death but you will go through the chimney for sure. We didnt talk about it anymore and i think probably my father and uncle got it and i didnt until maybe the next day i knew. There was no talk about that because you are now in the clutches of survival. You are put into work unit and given a couple boss psychopaths from german jail they put the psychopaths into the camps they were our work bosses and you are now on survival. Your food was 300 calories a day and was very lucky i had good boots. Boots became a big thing because you have to march every day to work and back 10 to 15 kilometers. You had to go for all kinds of things happening to your body. My father and uncle had not been with me i dont think i wouldve survived two weeks. But not having anybody there who would be helping, i remember the first swath they brought us for lunch the soup was called abit was a vegetarian soup. It stank to high heaven and i said i will not eat this and my father practically crammed it down my throat. A few days later the soup tasted pretty good. You were inducted in this terrible life of auschwitz and here we are sitting out in the field a halfhour lunch you work a 12 hour break in the day of hard work, you line up 100 people for you are soup mayors one of the couples has a ladle and stirring up this sloppiness canister and double walk canister to keep it warm. 100 people line up and people try to figure out whats the best spot to be to get up on top is mostly liquid and if you were caught by the couple you got a big hit on your head when it was all finished there was some left so we called the rep it took him a repeat, i couldnt believe it i saw three or four people running into these canisters and trying to crawl in. I was in total shock. I said never in my life will if i survive never will i abcan you imagine how you have to be a fast learner here because every second there was no second helping and there was no second chances. It was a terrible thing, these couples were absolutely brutal and ive seen the best and the worst. My father and uncle were together for two months and they were selected out in july. I was very lucky to find a document, somebody found the documents in the Auschwitz Museum with their name on it they were selected out for medical experiments for pharmaceutical companies. July 9, 1944. Selection was in july we knew what selection was. It was usually in the middle the night. The loudspeakers would turn on and you heard very loud ab means attention, attention, all inmates from these barracks run naked to this barrick for selection and we knew selection was certain death. The next morning i rented my fathers in the barrick they were gone. I had to go to my work, had to be counted every morning. On a good day to take another a ashe could stand there in military fashion 3 to 4 hours. People simply collapsing and died on the spot from the strain of standing was so difficult i managed to see them in the quarantine area my father through the wires he told me if i managed to survive i need to tell them what happened here. Never saw them again. I was going to ask you i know leslie would ask you you have such equanimity these most tragic horrible memories. I know you talk about it frequently. How do you cope with describing these things again and again i assume you see them when you talk about them. I managed to cope with it because i think its very important. I started to speak ive been speaking now 32 years my first speech was a 1991 and i have a thank you card from high school what i thought 33 years ago as of things happening in toronto the antisemitism and things about jews i wouldve never imagined so theres no way i can sit by and not talk about it. I think the book gave me a tool to be heard and invited to speak in many different places. Its important for people to understand that starts with the jews but it does not end with the jews. To see this kind of thing Second Time Around and gives me a lot of terrible feelings i just want to say, after my father and uncle were gone i had a hit on my head by a guard and lost a lot of blood and i went into shock i was thrown into a ditch and i knew my life was over. I kept thinking, how do i get myself out of this trouble . The only way to survive in this camp you have to be tough as nails and you have to be very very resilient and we have to be able to put one foot in front of the other. Your plans were one second to the next. Just thinking all the time. He had to be thinking all the time. Yes the adrenaline had to flow how your surviving from 2nd to 2nd. Just a bad movement could get this couple in such a rage, people were giving beatings and if you have too many beatings he couldnt survive. So the danger was there every second. I was dragged back to camp and i was dropped off in the Surgery Department was operated on and put it in the ward upstairs. The two surgeons that operated on me doctor was just go and doctor resolve ski. They were looking after the people and if you had an operation you are allowed to stay in the ward for two days. After two days he reloaded on the stretcher and take it to the gas chamber. So if you are not better place if you couldnt walk away you were gone. Ive seen a lot of people, they came because they knew nobody wanted to go to the operating they knew if you go there, thats the end. These people were in such terrible shape they were at the end of their life and they said, well, ill have two or three days may be and if im lucky in that its the end. So i was on a stretcher and doctor live just go put me off and put me in a prep room of the surgery gave me a lab coat and cleaner, this was in the middle of july 44 and i was working for him until january 12, 1945. He saved your life. He saved my life. Had he not done this i would not have survived. I would have been either taken away to the gas or i wouldve had to work outside in the cold in the fall. Do you have any idea what he saw in you or if it was you were there when he needed someone . I think i read in my book there was a polish medical student who was working sentenced to go to auschwitz for one year. He was there for one week and maybe there was some discussion with doctor gordon and doctor steinberg because these people talk to each other. Maybe they needed somebody young and maybe i will never know. So youre 15 years old and in charge of cleaning. Operating room and getting people prepared for operations and cleaning and getting instruments cleaned and i learned fast i had to polish and sweep and clean and taking the bloody sheets next door to the washer and laundry was next door. And you know how the operating has to be run its a lot of work. Everything has to be sterilized, the clothing laundry had to be folded and sterilized. And we are washing instruments for hours after a whole afternoon of operations. Everything had to be sparkle and be cleaned. Ive seen a lot. The thing was that polish Political Prisoners were not jews. They were allowed to receive one part from home and abthis was the difference and i found that after many years after doctor made he went back to auschwitz and made it a position. There was an underground in auschwitz and doctor rejoice go with the big part of this underground. I had no idea what was going on. Is going to ask you, skipping way ahead, you had no contact with him immediately after the war but later on he established connections and wanted to ask you about that. Ellie knows my story and kept asking me, lets find out, i didnt want to open that book. 30 years after i survived i was busy building a family and a livelihood and so on. Remember finding a girl from the institute. I told her the name of the doctor and that was easy she just sent to auschwitz all the records were there. The following year she came on the bus early and came to me with a document with an envelope and said you know this man doctor rejoice go with this photograph because Political Prisoners are photographed fronts inside as it may be a contract on the family when they had a phone call and they said my name is thomas mason barry looking for us. Are you familiar with the name should just go and he said yes thats my grandfather. Any we met the family and so when i go there i see them almost every time his granddaughter sixyearold little boy his name is max smart little boy. [laughter] he says to me max, did you have money to go to canada on boat . And they know the story. Its interesting. Doctor rejoice go i know this now he was in auschwitz because he was arrested by the gestapo his wife was a dentist and riding a jewish family under the stable under the horses these are the things that are happening. People have different point of views. I wanted to ask you, you saw the best and the worst of people and was going to ask you about this, you talk about how all these trains were crisscrossing europe full of people being taken to their deaths and nobody sabotage them but there was another story you tell in the book also youre being transported and this is after the war and you been liberated and there was a remarkable act of kindness that really meant a lot to you. I was hoping you would tell about that. That was on the death march. Is that right . The throwing of the bread. That was on the death march. 75 years ago i arrived in auschwitz on the 22nd i arrived in auschwitz on the 25th of january. We went to a place called pilsen, occupy czechoslovakia, we arrived there and in the afternoon. I didnt know where we were. Imagine a train i dont know how many flat cars carry coal or and we were guarded by ss units patrolling all around. When it got dark there was no movement of trains on the roads on the rails because they were picked up by american fighter planes you see locomotive. The train stood at the station all night everything was abin the morning it was a wet morning. Snow was coming down and a commotion behind me. Edit overhead bridge. Look back and i see people with bakers baskets throwing chunks of bread into the open cars. They didnt stop . Some of them were college misers. Three days later we arrived in mount townsend. The train comes to a stop theres a bridge over the river a big river i could see ice flow going down the river. I said, this is it. This is the end and i couldnt figure out why the train didnt go across the bridge. The bridge was damaged by bombings and there were many a missing and people were falling through the cracks and they were gone and we were marching up the hill. Can you imagine what we look like . We come into this beautiful town of mount hudson twostory houses threestory houses and what hit me right away, sparkling windows with beautiful curtains and drapes. I was just beyond belief. I couldnt understand i said these people are still living like normal . I came from hell and im looking at sparkling windows. I kept thinking if i could get into one of these homes and have a bath i would die happily. Then i keep going and there were three beautifully dressed women putting slaves on the sidewalk with a lot of snow kids bundled up. They are looking with eyes in these monsters walking in the middle of the road. Three young women reporting as slaves were looking the other way they do want to see who was walking. It was total rejection i picked it up right away. The difference between person is my housing this is high in very low and we keep going and i see inmates, prisoners in this strap hanging from a cliff. I said this is going to be the end. That was a wonderful thing what people did. I went through my housing the terrible four days there i really had i almost bought it a terrible case of dysentery i was so sick, you cant keep any food down and how can you keep walking and working . There was a blacksmith and he gave me a piece of call and he said take this call to get the poison off my body that was i was eating for three days was a ai wound up every time he would move from one camp to another i was there march 15 and found out who that was. Im not sure how im going to make this but im going to be able to make it. Will i be 17 years old and still alive . So i made it but every time you moved it was a terrible ordeal. We made this documentary in the yeshua foundation. We were back there last year People Living there beautifully and Beautiful Hotels tourists all over and big lake 70 we were there in may i think. In the alps. By American Tank units 764 black panther battalion. Most of these tankers were from new jersey. [applause] that was a moment to i will never forget. Will you tell us, i could listen to you talk all night some lucky to be a very good timekeeper here but i think we are close. We have another 40 minutes. [laughter] a few hours. Tell us about that moment. The last everything fell apart. Three weeks before simply locked the camp and threw away the keys. They shut the water off and sister in the water we were infested with lice and they carried the sickness and i was in the lower bunk. We were ghosts. Those that were walking were walking ghosts. Skin and bone. Couldnt lift the feet of the cement floor and kept mumbling away at the guards no longer in the tower. I knew that if i dont get out of this bunk i will never make it out. I called out over cadavers all over and was outside and im looking and i see the guard tower is empty and i could hear every equipment and suddenly they came flying in him he was an American Tank. Uchitel was american . I knew right away it was american. I remember the soldiers that were in total shock. They were liberated, they liberated athey didnt know what this place was. This unit went through attached to general pattons army. There was in the cabinet up in the mountains and i said Johnny Stevens was the sergeant the leader of the squadron of tanks about 12 tanks. Said go up and see where that is. They came up and they went to the gate and always saw was thousands of bodies in this by the mountains. I couldnt get up on my feet and these ghosts were coming to the tank and trying to touch the shoes of the soldiers and the soldiers they tried to lift themselves up high but you can only go so far. They didnt know who these monsters were. And they had to keep going because there was another American Unit that came to administer the camp it was very difficult for them. Many people were given food after they got food i think it was some meat stew or something we couldnt keep down any food. Not only were we dying from hungry before and they gave us food we had issues with that food. On my way back home it took me a month. We made stops in every town they gave us a piece of bread and a piece of salami and we had to eat it because we figured abwhenever we ate we were abwe had to be fed with the eyedropper. It was a real mess. You were liberated but really not free. The announcement came out and anybody that wants to go to czechoslovakia tomorrow that truck is leaving and so i was at the gate and i kept thinking, where my going . I knew i had to go because the camp was closing so i arrived home and i was in terrible shape. The clothing we have the americans found a huge store i had to cut down my legs were like that in the water and the boots i had to cut them and make suitors out of the because i could put my feet in it. Thats the way i arrived home. The farmer gave me a lift and about a mile from my home he made a left turn and i got up and kept walking toward the house and it was a at that place a year before it was a busy place three families and who was a neighbor sitting in my mothers kitchen and said would you give me a glass of water. I want to see this lady who asked my mother why would she leave the baby and she did for me what my mother would have done for me if i came back from a terrible journey. She got me to a hospital right away and i couldnt put my head back the water line was up here. One a particular house and in your kitchen and the other neighbor treated you with kindness and also did another wonderful thing for you . We did this documentary from the Shell Foundation last year and back in my town standing rented from my house its a scrapyard now and it was a sunday morning and the crew was there about eight people in the crew and a guy comes on a wheelchair a few houses down the road and hes yelling, ab yelling my name. Everybody thought isnt it wonderful somebody remembers me seven years later. I wasnt very happy to meet anybody, believe me. I kept very civil and everybody was amazed my two brothers i was called petey and my brothers were called smitty end aand he remember the names we invited him for lunch i said to him, his name is tot h i said tell me what happened here when we were locked up in the school what happened in my town every abthe synagogue become and the prayer books they were put in the fire and torched i said what happened when we were locked up in the school . That was a terrible time and i said but what happened . I remember we had a wonderful lady who was doing interviews on tv. She said you ask a question if you abthen you drop it. I couldnt drop it i said. Tell me, what happened to dash cam what happened to our furniture . Those were terrible times. Wouldnt say anything. I think this is now 75 years later. Not a single jew living in my town. Terrible times. I was going for the answer about the woman saving the photos. I was trying to end on a happy note. She gave me for pictures when our home was ransacked and everything is flying through the air and she saved for pictures. Those are truly the treasures. I brought for pictures when i came to canada and had less than one dollar in change and when i got off the boat. I have for pictures. That was the story. I just want to thank you so much. I wish that we had endless time because you obviously i want to ask you so much about your life since the war but now everyone can get the book. And read more. I tell you, harpercollins, never published holocaust story. It took me years to put this book together i tried everything. , i couldnt type on the computer. As a professor from University Western who did everything. It took me three years to do it. It was finally done in 2015 in early april. I phoned the editor harpercollins whom i met years before we came on a mission with me to poland and another group. I said i have my memoirs done can i send it to you i simply want to know if its worth anything. He said i will be back in two weeks and i will find out. What i know about anything. And publishing a book. He said send it and just push a button and it was gone and i forgot about it, i was getting ready to leave sunday and this was tuesday two days later i had an email that they would be honored to publish my memoirs. I almost fell off of the chair. My book was a finalist for the pillar award and this year in canada reads i think its a very important book at the right time. It gave the book tremendous publicity in canada. I get letters from the atlantic to the pacific. I think its very important. Its the right book for the right time and we need to be aware of whats happening around us and we cannot repeat the same mistakes. It starts with jews but does not end with jews. And when students ask me what can we do i say, you need to stand up and you need to say, we will not allow you to do this, not in my school not in our cities, not in our towns, not in our country. This is not a jewish problem. This is everybodys problem. [applause] max, thank you so much. I think theres going to be another musical performance. [inaudible background conversations] ellie lozano once said, when you listen to witness you become a witness. When you listen to a witness you become a witness. Max, like so many others were privileged to hear your story on the march of the living and countless other experiences all of us here now are your witnesses. We pledge to never forget your story and promised to pass on your story to future generations. Of course we all look forward to your segment on 60 minutes. Our final ab. Can hold a baby, every heart can learn to love. Lay down your arms, let time heal every wound and love will some day set us free. Lay down your arms. Dear god please hear us listen to our prayers and help us do thai will upon this earth let the children suffer no more and let a Peaceful World be again birth. Every hand that holds a sword can hold a baby every heart can learn to love lay down your arms begin the journey home snow. And join the human family somewhere deep inside the soldier snow. Theres a dreamer dreaming of the world of peace lay down your arms note let time heal every wound and love will some day set us free love will some day set us free love will some day set us free love will some day set us free [applause] thank you, aviva for sharing with user profoundly Healing Music this evening. To close out thats extraordinary evening id like to invite our exceptionally dedicated president , profit the international march e march of the living. [applause] good evening, to each of you of also he has done so beautifully this evening, in his own words, max has shared with countless of participants on the march of the living not only his personal story of survival but his belief in understanding of how very vital our commitment to the messages are memory are to the meaning of our lives. For over 20. March of the living students have had the opportunity to benefit from maxs gentle demeanor, his intuitive wisdom and his belief in our personal responsibility to protect the early chapters in our communal book of life, even as we strive to preserve a Better Future in the for going chapters. Since it inception in 198 the international march of the living has been devoted to an unwaiverring mission to educate the next generation of the historical truths of our Jewish Communal past. We see memory as a means to improvement. We see truth as fundamental to our existence. We feel morally compelled to remember the six million of our ancestors who so brutally met their deaths during the holocaust, and we feel passionately driven to honor and pay tribute to those fortunate enough to survive the atrocities that they faced during this most bleak and dark time in jewish and world history. As we approach our 32nd march from auschwitz, this april, we will be joined once again by 10,000 participants, students, adults, survivors, clergy, law enforcement, professors, educators and World Leaders from 150 communities around the glen. We will stan together against the evils of antisemitism, its tread, bigotry and prejudice in all their ugly forms in nature. We believe that together were making a difference that we will remember and we will never forget. In this year of 2020, the year of vision, it is our fervent home that humanity will strive to see the truths of reality more clearly. We are grateful for the vision of our founders who long ago sought to understand our moral obligation to remember the past as we prepare to france the future and pass it on to the next generation, and we are very greatful for the physical fortitude, the inner strength and the will of max eisen. It is through your words, max, and countless others like you, who brace yourselves to face unbearable memories, open your hearts and share with us descriptive stories stories of y life and and the introspective impact of the lessons of she shoah on all the peoples of the world. I am very pleased tonight on behalf of the board of directors of the international march of the living to publicly thank you, max, for showing us that the will to live can and must remain alive within each of us against all odds and against all evils. You serve as a true role model for our young people, the leaders of tomorrow, the witnesses for the witnesses. Your resilience is remarkable. Your commitment to memory is inspiring. And your ability to motivate is very enveriable. We are fortunate to have you as a terror bearer of memory and truth in the importance importance they have to our lives. We read and prepare the ethics of the fathers in chapter 2, and i quote, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task but neither are you free to dough cyst from it desist from hit. Any friend, max, the way you have led your life exemplified that mo e most prophetic. We join you in steadfast commitment to memory and to education. I pray, i pray deeply, our educational journey together will continue for many, many more years to come, as together we march in the common goal of learning from the past to preserve a Better Future. I want to thank all our distinguished guests. For our partners in recordation and transmission of memory and to each one of you who have seen fit to join us thus evening for this very special moment in time. I wish you all a rest a pleasant rest of the evening. Safe travels home and i will remind you that our dear max will be signing bookness the book Museum Gift Shop at the conclusion of the program. Thank you. [applause] youre watching booktv on chance cspan. Here are some programs to watch out for this weekend. On after words net nix director of inclusion, michelle king, examines what she calls the invisible barriers that prevent women from succeeding sn the workplace. We look into our archives to brain you author programs about pandemics and the library of congress hosts a virtual author talk with Tulane University Professor John barry but his book on the 1918 ininfluenza outbreak. The first of many virtual author programs only booktv. Check your Program Guide or visit booktv. Org for more information. [applause] hello, everyone. Can you hear me okay . Okay. Im trying to not be in the view of both signature backwards. By the end of this well be