1. US involvement in the Holocaust. Very, very disturbing how many chances we as a country had to help and chose not to. This is a very controversial subject that many historians will disagree on so we were given many sources to back up the information we received. First, historian David Wagner. He has done extensive research and has shown how the people in the US State Department who had the authority to do something for the Jews were antisemitic and chose to do nothing (among other things) and the film "America and the Holocaust: Deceit and Indifference" this film made me very angry. It showed person after person(as part of the government) who in the end said no to helping, even FDR, one of our most beloved Presidents. Other names that were given as known antisemitics were Charles Coughlin, Breckenridge Long-both men who had the power to make a real difference and chose not to. I have such mixed feelings about this, I need to do more research in this area.
The other "theme" (if you will) of the day was our survivor Analise Neusbaum. Her story is one I will never forget. She was born in Bonn, Germany in 1929, survived 3 camps and made it to the US in 1946. She was one of the most candid, honest survivors I have ever had the privilege of speaking with. She and her family were sent to Terezin in July 1942 where in 1943 she was a part of the propaganda film and visit by the Red Cross. The Red Cross asked to see a camp and the Nazis "prettied" up Terezin and they fell for it, even to this day she is very angry with the Red Cross. Her father was transported to Auschwitz in September of 1944 and she and her mother volunteered to go a week later. They did not see her father at Auschwitz, he actually died at Dachau, and Analise and her mother spent 5 days in Auschwitz and then were transported to an airplane factory to work (due to this she does not have a tattoo like most Auschwitz victims). She spent about 8 months at the airplane factory, where she was never given a clean set of clothes or was able to wash the ones she was wearing. Her "set" of clothes was a long striped dress, old shoes and a winter coat. She had no personal items, toothbrush, towel or even underwear!! The airplane factory was bombed and although none of them were injured, they now were without anything to do, they were transferred to Mauthausen where they were to be gassed. On the morning of May 3, 1945, Analise, her mother along with the other women in her barracks were called outside for morning roll call and then stood for quite a while, they were then sent back into the barracks-this would happen several more times until night fall. The next morning one of the women looked outside and saw a white flag-the Nazis had surrendered. She and her mother were liberated on may 5, 1945. Her mother had TB and died within a few months, Analise came to the US in July 1946 to the Bronx. They found out shortly after liberation that the strange behavior of May 3-with them going in and out of the barracks-was due to the fact that the Nazis had run out of Zyklon-B and no where to get anymore (they usually got it in Linz but the Allies were already there) so they lived because the gas supply had been miscalculated and there was no way to resupply!! Analise had several artifacts with her, yellow stars, a comb and a soap dish built by fellow prisoners in the airplane factory-all things she let us touch. It was a very emotional day, one that I will never forget.
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