Holocaust Survivors Quotes

“Look at me, here I am. Hitler is nothing but ashes.”
― Annette Libeskind Berkovits

“Within a decade or two, all Holocaust survivors will likely have passed away so a ticking clock is in effect in this battle between the truth and lies. Keep in mind even those survivors born in a concentration camp during WW2 would be at least 71 years-of-age when this book (the one you are reading now) was released. Those survivors old enough to clearly recall the events of that nightmare will, of course, be older and have much less time left. As the memory of the Holocaust begins to fade away, it will become easier to deny the genocide even occurred unless those of us who are truthseekers are able to embrace the memory of the genocide and educate others do the same. What’s needed in this propaganda war is for the true stories of Holocaust survivors – as well as those of the Nazi perpetrators, their associates and others who witnessed the genocide – to be told loudly and clearly so that there will never, ever be room for doubt in generations to come. After all, nothing is more powerful, credible or damning than eyewitness accounts.”
― James Morcan, Debunking Holocaust Denial Theories

“Never forget” is the collective plea of Holocaust survivors. And in the first few decades after WW2 ended, it really did seem as if humanity would always remember, and perhaps even learn from, the Nazi genocide so that future atrocities may be prevented. Unfortunately, the historicity of the Holocaust has been undermined and chipped away at by the exact same sinister forces that created the genocide in the first place: racists, religious bigots and the most paranoid type of conspiracy theorists who, together, are uniting – often unwittingly – to form a new wave of anti-Semitism that will not willingly accept the obvious facts of the past. This chipping away (at the truth) began slowly and insidiously – much like the Holocaust itself – but sadly, and worryingly, it is gathering pace.”
― James Morcan, Debunking Holocaust Denial Theories

“Even if I wrote on nothing else, it would never be enough, even if all the survivors did nothing but write about their experiences, it would still not be enough.

*Response when asked how much longer is he going to write about the Holocaust”
― Elie Wiesel, All Rivers Run to the Sea

“To deny the reported six million (approximately) Jews who died, or the 11 million people in total, is to ignore all the eyewitness accounts from Holocaust survivors, the non-Jewish witnesses of the millions who died the open-air massacres around Europe, the concentration camp guards, Nazi officers who admitted to gassings and other related crimes immediately after WW2, and the universal agreement of all mainstream historians who have studied this historical event inside out – not to mention every single scientist who has ever analyzed forensic evidence retrieved from the Nazi genocide. Not even the most corrupt courtroom on Earth could ignore this much evidence – for collectively these confirmations of the Holocaust equate to irrefutable proof that the reported death toll is indeed correct. It is possibly the most well-documented crime of the 20th Century, but remember for religious extremists, Nazi apologists or other anti-Semites it would never matter how much evidence you put in front of them. They would always deny the Holocaust because to admit the event occurred would be to stop believing the Jews are inferior to them. It would also require such bigots to admit the very uncomfortable truth to themselves: that their ‘own kind’ did these despicable things to the Jewish people.”
― James Morcan, Debunking Holocaust Denial Theories

“I can tell you that events were incremental, that the unbelievable became the believable and, ultimately, the normal.”
― Ralph Webster, A Smile in One Eye: a Tear in the Other

“How can a race spread out across multiple countries be considered a threat?”
― Heather Morris, The Tattooist of Auschwitz

“You kill yourself when you hate. It's the worst disease in the world.”
― William Schiff, William & Rosalie: A Holocaust Testimony

“As a matter of fact, the idea of death seeped into our blood. We would die, anyway, whatever happened. We would be gassed, we would be burned, we would be hanged, or we would be shot. The members of the underground at least knew that if they died, they would die fighting for something.”
― Olga Lengyel, Five Chimneys: A Woman Survivor's True Story of Auschwitz

“I thought those were others. Soon, I was to learn that they were us.”
― Ralph Webster, A Smile in One Eye: a Tear in the Other

“And so the picture that I showed her that Sunday, a picture I'd seen countless times since I was a boy, brought home to me for the first time the strangeness of my relationship to the people I was interviewing, people who were rich in memories but poor in keepsakes, whereas I was so rich in the keepsakes but had no memories to go with them.”
― Daniel Mendelsohn, The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million

“A study from New York's Mount Sinai Hospital found that genetic changes stemming from the trauma suffered by Holocaust survivors were capable of being passed on to their children. Our genes change all the time when chemical tags attach themselves to the DNA and turn genes on or off. The study found that some of these tags--found in the genes of those survivors -- were also found in their children. The changes led to an increased incidence of stress disorders. This passing down of environmentally altered genes is called *epigenetic inheritance.*”
― Nadia Owusu, Aftershocks

“Harry H. Laughlin was highly important for the Nazi crusade to breed a “master race.” This American positioned himself to have a significant effect on the world’s population. During his career Laughlin would:
~ Write the “Model Eugenical Law” that the Nazis used to draft portions of the Nuremberg decrees that led to The Holocaust.
~ Be appointed as “expert” witness for the U.S. Congress when the 1924 Immigration Restriction Act was passed. The 1924 Act would prevent many Jewish refugees from reaching the safety of U.S. shores during The Holocaust.
~ Provide the "scientific" basis for the 1927 Buck v. Bell Supreme Court case that made "eugenic sterilization" legal in the United States. This paved the way for 80,000 Americans to be sterilized against their will.
~ Defend Hitler's Nuremberg decrees as “scientifically” sound in order to dispel international criticism.
~ Create the political organization that ensured that the “science” of eugenics would survive the negative taint of The Holocaust. This organization would be instrumental in the Jim Crow era of legislative racism.

H.H. Laughlin was given an honorary degree from Heidelberg University by Hitler's government, specifically for these accomplishments. Yet, no one has ever written a book on Laughlin. Despite the very large amount of books about The Holocaust, Laughlin is largely unknown outside of academic circles.
The Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C. gave this author permission to survey its internal correspondence leading up to The Holocaust and before the Institution retired Laughlin. These documents have not been seen for decades. They are the backbone of this book. The story line intensifies as the Carnegie leadership comes to the horrible realization that one of its most recognized scientists was supporting Hitler’s regime.”
― A.E. Samaan, H.H. Laughlin: American Scientist, American Progressive, Nazi Collaborator

“There is a gaping hole in the history of the Holocaust. Between Adolf Hitler and Joseph Mengele there was a hierarchy of scientists whom were responsible for writing the infamous racial legislation of the Third Reich. These scientists, doctors, and legislators enjoyed prestigious positions in the various institutions within Hitler's Germany. To be more precise, many of the ghastly experiments credited to Mengele were ordered by this group of high-ranking scientists and doctors. Mengele was following their orders, yet many of these German doctors and scientists were set free after being captured by the Allies.

Previously unpublished manuscripts, correspondence, and conveniently forgotten publications reveal professional and political relationships as well as shared scientific convictions between high-profile American Progressives, British Fabian Socialists, and their German counterparts. The mounting evidence points to the long-standing designs and machinations of "scientific racism", a still poorly understood aspect of history.

This book documents the hundred year trajectory of the history of "scientific racism" from its initial intentions to create "a race of masters" to the Holocaust, which resulted from Hitler's conviction to create a "master race". These scientific prejudices and political dogmas are as relevant today as they were leading up to WWII. A thorough understanding of the origins of this movement is in order.”
― A.E. Samaan, From a "Race of Masters" to a "Master Race": 1948 to 1848

“When trivial matters arising from the subconscious normality of life become matters to which we devote more time than not we must cherish the benefits and fortune of that normality and thank our gods we are not the helpless victims of a holocaust.”
― Nick Whittle

“He told me that what he owned and accumulated didn't matter. He still had his family. We still had our future. Go forward, You can't look back. It will destroy you if you do... Ever since that day, I have seen the world through a different prism.”
― Ralph Webster, A Smile in One Eye: a Tear in the Other

“In spite of all the terrible things that happened to me, I did not allow Hitler to make me feel less than human. I had been raised well and I knew who I was. My strategy was not to allow myself to hate. I knew I could be consumed by such hate”
― Jack Mandelbaum

“If in barbed wire things can bloom, why couldn't I? I will not die, I will not die”
― Friedl And The Children Of Terezin

“The past looks lovely and important only when the present, the here and now, is miserable and when the future looks unclear or even dismal.”
― Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night

“To be here or somewhere else, to live or not to live, to look out through a broken window or not to look.”
― Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night

“She stared ahead with eyes where dreams no longer swam, where thoughts no longer had any life. It was that hazy stare of old people behind which was the mysterious nothingness which was drawing nearer, the absolute end, the annihilation of everything and everybody, the awful end in helplessness, grief, grief, and the sleep of everything there is.”
― Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night

“Time reminds everybody of death, but who goes around day and night talking about it? Was this the source of that strange anxiety which sometimes comes over us, without our knowing why? Like some strange sister of joy, it was a tremor of fear, of ending, of all that begins and passes away. Was this the source of that odd loneliness we feel even when we aren't alone. and which is akin to stardust?”
― Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night

“To look good in defeat is the ultimate a person can want.”
― Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night

“There are some things we run after and it turns out that we run in vain. Then there are things we don't pursue, and those are the things that escape us.”
― Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night

“To kill and caress. Or simply kill, so you're not always bothered by something or somebody. So it is to be killed or to kill.”
― Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night

“Hunger and cold were like two walls with no room for anything else in between but loneliness, in which a man is a stranger even to himself.”
― Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night

“There was some need, some attraction that drew him closer to the German boy whose life he'd save, just to lose his own. But it was life that connected them, because it was death at the same time. It couldn't be put into words, it was intangible, but it was as complete as everything in life is; it was what connected birds and people or a grain of dust and the stars. It was strong because it was so weak and weak because it was so strong.”
― Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night

“The hope killed them," said the old man. "It killed the very best of them. And hopelessness straightened out the very best of us.”
― Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night

“We lived a decent and beautiful life," the old man said. "Maybe it's our innocence that irritates those who hate us so much and makes them kill us and burn us and hang us. It was a magnificent life because we lived in peace with ourselves. But we were always in the minority.”
― Arnošt Lustig, Diamonds of the Night

“When I got here, to America, this is when my life began,’” my grandmother says. “‘Everything before…well, that happened to a different person.”
― Jodi Picoult