Holocaust survivor addresses German parliament on Remembrance Day

As the world commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday, Dr. Inge Auerbacher, a Holocaust survivor, addressed the German parliament to share her experience with the historic event. 

Auerbacher spoke of her history in the village of Kippenheim, Germany, a village that was peaceful until pogroms broke out against the Jewish people and new, antisemitic laws came into effect. 

Despite the new rules, Germans showed her acts of kindness that she never forgot. 

"Even though it was forbidden for Christians and neighbors to have any contact with Jews, some of the farmers sometimes gave us food, and most children still played with me." 

Her trip to school, which consisted of walking nearly two miles and taking an hour-long train ride, became dangerous when all Jewish children were forced to wear the yellow star marking them.

"One day, a woman left a little bag of bread rolls right next to my seat. She must have seen I was wearing a yellow star and felt some compassion for the little Jewish girl sitting all alone on the train." 

Although some showed her kindness, many were cruel, and she faced taunting and harassment from some of the non-Jewish children. 

Auerbacher and her parents were deported in August of 1942 when she was just seven years old, one of the youngest among those sent to Theresienstadt concentration camp.

Miraculously, Auerbacher and both her parents survived, despite the harsh conditions and the death surrounding them. She spoke of sleeping on straw in over-crowded rooms, digging through foul garbage pits hoping to find a scrap of food, and the complete isolation from the outside world.

In her speech, she mentioned the resurgence of antisemitism, and her fears for the next generation. 

"Hatred of the Jews has become commonplace again, in many parts of the world, including Germany. This disease needs to be eradicated, as swiftly as possible," she said to a round of applause.