Holocaust survivor

Oertelt spent time in five

concentration camps including Auschwitz

By MARTHA KRIENKE

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- New Ulm High School students heard firsthand on Wednesday about the horrors of the Holocaust from one of its few remaining survivors -- Henry Oertelt. From St. Paul, Minn., he spoke to the student body about growing up as a Jew in Germany while Adolf Hitler was in power.

Social studies teacher Kellie Dunn arranged the event for her history class. However, as more teachers found out about it, the idea turned into an all-school assembly.

"To add a human component to history makes it that much more meaningful and real," Dunn said.

Sharing stories from his autobiography An Unbroken Chain, Oertelt and his daughter Stephanie Oertelt Samuels showed how the chain of events in Oertelt's life helped him survive the Holocaust, "the systematic annihilation of 6 million Jews." Had there been one weak link, his life would have been destroyed.

When Hitler was elected in 1933, Oertelt was 12 years old. At 14, he was not allowed to continue his education and became an apprentice to design and build furniture.

As a Jew, Oertelt was not allowed to attend public events; own a radio, record player or bicycle and had restricted shopping hours from 2 to 4 p.m. Any wrong move would send him straight to a concentration camp. Oertelt remembers his closest friends disappearing one by one, never to be seen again.

When he was 22 years old, Oertelt, his mother, brother and brother's fiancee were arrested in Berlin, Germany. On June 16, 1943, they were shipped to the concentration camp in Czechoslovakia called Theresienstadt. Even though this place was considered one of the "milder" camps, Oertelt said that of the 15,000 children at that camp, only 98 were still alive three years later.

Upon arrival, the SS guards "dehumanized" the prisoners by taking their jewelry and sending them to tiny, unsanitary barracks. After the men and women, young and old were separated, Oertelt and his brother worked each day digging trenches for field irrigation. Their daily menu included a half loaf of bread for every two people, black liquid called "coffee" and bowls of watery soup served at noon and in the evening.

"Even though I was surrounded by starvation, filth, misery and dying people, subsequent experiences made it clear that if I had spent these 15 months in other concentration camps my survival would have been much more doubtful," Oertelt said.

Eventually, Oertelt and his family were moved to the Auschwitz camp, which was considered the most dangerous. The prisoners were showered, shaved, tattooed with an identification number and finally given striped uniforms.

"The dehumanization process had now reached its pinnacle," said Oertelt. "We suddenly came to the realization that until now our names had been our very last personal possession."

During his 22 months of captivity, Oertelt worked in five concentration camps. By the time of his liberation on April 23, 1945, his 5-foot-6-inch frame weighed a mere 82 pounds.

When people ask him how he survived, Oertelt points to his optimism and alertness, but he sees many events that saved his life. "The seemingly least important is as important as the seemingly most important because if one of those links breaks, the chain is broken," he said.

Now at 83 years old, Oertelt said he does not hate the Germans, but he is not willing to forgive them. "If you come home from an experience like I have and you find out that all your friends are gone, I would ask you, 'Can you forgive them?'" he asked. "I cannot, and I will not. If anyone should forgive, it should be the people who were killed. It's not up to me to forgive."

Oertelt has been sharing his story in universities, high schools and some senior citizen groups for about 30 years. Showing pictures of the Holocaust from German archives, he said his mission is to "pass on my story so that the world will never forget and will be able to recognize what can happen if hatred and bigotry are allowed to go unchallenged and unopposed."

The students at the assembly got the message.

Freshman Ashley Andree said, "I learned not to hate people for their cultural background."

Senior Megan Schuetzle was filled with awe by Oertelt's story and gained a greater respect for holocaust survivors. "I just had to go and shake his hand even though I couldn't buy a book," she said.

Sophomore Matt Kitzberger was amazed by the toughness of mind and body required to make it through a concentration camp.

Senior Adam Macho said it was difficult to comprehend why people would do such evil things to each other. "History can repeat itself if you don't listen to what happened in the past," he said. "It was such a tragedy that it would be terrible to see such a thing happen again."

For more information about Oertelt's journey through the Nazi Holocaust, his book An Unbroken Chain is available at the New Ulm Public Library.