On September 11, O’Gorman High School and Junior High School German students had the incredible opportunity to attend a talk by Holocaust survivor Dr. Leon Weintraub over Zoom. In two hours, Weintraub shared his moving personal story, engaged with the students by answering their questions and provided invaluable insights and wisdom that he believes are crucial for young people to understand. The two-hour session was an emotional and educational experience that left a lasting impact on all those in attendance.
Weintraub was born in Lodz, Poland, on January 1, 1926. His father’s early death left his mother to raise him and his four older sisters by herself. She worked as a seamstress to provide for the family, and the family resided in a poor area of Lodz.
The year 1939 brought a dark turn of events when the Wehrmacht, the united armed forces of Nazi Germany, invaded Poland. At the age of 13, Weintraub and his family were forcibly relocated to the Litzmannstadt ghetto. There, Weintraub found employment at a factory.
In 1944, Weintraub and his family were deported from the ghetto to the notorious Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Weintraub managed to evade death at Auschwitz by assuming the guise of a working prisoner and joining a prisoner transport. He was transported from one camp to another until he escaped from the transport as it was en route to Lake Constance. He later discovered that three of his sisters had also survived the Holocaust, and they were later joyously reunited.
Following the Holocaust, Weintraub dedicated himself to a career in medicine. In 1966, he obtained his doctorate, specializing in obstetrics and gynecology. He shared with students his motivation for choosing this particular path, expressing his desire to bring new life into the world after witnessing the immense loss of life during the Holocaust. Despite enduring unfathomable hardships, Weintraub believes in humanity’s intrinsic goodness.
When addressing students, Weintraub emphasized his identity as a victor rather than a victim, explaining how “war and suffering were only six percent of [his] long life, and [he]’s not going to let those years become a cloud over his life.” His beautiful words resonated deeply with the audience as he emphasized the immeasurable value of kindness and peace: “Whatever the color of the skin is, the tissue underneath is the same. Kindness and peace don’t cost anything, but building weapons for hatred does.”
Weintraub’s wisdom, conveyed in just two hours, left an indelible and profound impression on students. He imparted invaluable life lessons that will undoubtedly resonate with them for years to come. His talk not only educated them about the Holocaust but also empowered them to embrace kindness and peace in their lives. He concluded his talk on an uplifting note: “Our brain can be a wonderful tool. Let’s use it the right way.”
Weintraub has written a book about his experiences titled, Reconciliation with Evil: Story of a Survival. It is undoubtedly as profound as the talk he gave students last week.
