Two cents from a Holocaust survivor

I saw Conrad Weiner and assumed he was someone else.

He was smiling, wearing a red sweater vest and looking as content as though he had just returned from a family fishing trip. As we exchanged a warm greeting, he flashed me a vibrant, contagious smile that left me puzzled. How could this be a man who survived a concentration camp in the Holocaust?

As part of last week's “From Hate to Harmony Week," sponsored by the IU Hillel Center, Weiner participated in a series of panel discussions about the relevance of the Holocaust today.

During our interview, Weiner managed to relate his personal connection and sense of humor through every shared story.

Just before his 4th birthday, Weiner was deported from his hometown of Bucovina, Romania, to a labor camp in Transnistria. Each day, until he was liberated before his 8th birthday, Weiner survived the horrors of the Holocaust.

Although he was a small child, there are things Weiner said he will never forget about the daily tortures of the concentration camp.

“I remember always being cold and always being hungry,” he said. “I remember the women trying to teach us stories to give us something else to think about. I remember watching thousands sleep together in a barn full of straw, packed like dominos. I remember my mother jumping to reach the top of a cherry tree when the Nazis weren’t looking, trying to get something nourishing to help nurse me back to health.”

Weiner shared several stories with me, a combination of his family members’ experiences, personal recollections and information he had researched. He depicted scenes in the labor camp where Jews were shot by drunk Nazis “playing games” to see who could hit the most targets, and he shared the memories of his mother’s stubbornness and determination to keep him alive, no matter the risk.

“When I was sick, they told my mother not to let me suffer, to let me die in peace and be done with this nightmare,” Weiner said. “The best thing she did was never listening to them.”

After about four years of unimaginable genocide, the Russian army liberated Weiner and his mother, uncle and cousin. With very few countries accepting Jewish immigrants at that time, Weiner and his family had an ambiguous status in Romania until they were finally accepted into the United States.

“Uncle Sam was good to me, and I was given another chance,” Weiner said.

Serving in the U.S. Army, Weiner had the chance to return to Germany for training in intelligence. What most people would consider a nightmare for a Jewish Holocaust survivor ended up being one of the greatest experiences in Weiner’s life.

“I learned that hatred stemmed from brainwashing,” he said. “I made some of my best friends in Germany, friends who called me brother, took me on vacations, hosted me and made me a part of their family. These Germans that I thought I hated, terrible people who hated me, taught me not to hate. Don’t hate anyone. If you hate the oppressor, they win.”

After many years of joining the Speaker’s Bureau for Holocaust Education, Weiner’s main message for his audience remains the same: combat hatred.

“I want discrimination to be erased, for people to be understanding of every religion and race,” Weiner said. “If adversity doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger.”

Still smiling, I was amazed by how a man with such a story could be so happy and spirited. Weiner’s outlook on the world, after experiencing the utmost suffering, inspired me in an indescribable way.

After an hour of sharing stories, jokes, advice and insights, Weiner recited an Elie Wiesel quote he leaves his audiences with, a perfect ending message.

“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victims. Silence encourages the tormenter, never the tormented.”

Weiner’s words were a breath of fresh air and a slap on the head all at once. He reminded me to not sweat the small stuff, to live with purpose by seeking gratitude for life and to actively repair the world by bringing destruction to one basic thing: hatred.

­— espitzer@indiana.edu