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Miami Herald
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
As Holocaust survivors continue to vanish, one of the oldest in Miami shares her story
Lucy Lowell, who survived the deadliest Nazi concentration camp to build a full life in New York City and eventually settle in Miami Beach, is among the last of an important and increasingly rare group of people. At 103, she's among the oldest living Holocaust survivors in the world. It's a population that's disappearing with each passing year. Just 1,400 survivors are estimated to be alive today over the age of 100, according to a new report. It means that the opportunity to hear firsthand stories of endurance in the face of monstrous evil is quickly passing by. Within the next six years, half of all Holocaust survivors will pass away. And 70 percent will pass away with in 10 years, according to a population projection report from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference. The findings are 'a stark reminder that our time is almost up,' said Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference. 'Our survivors are leaving us and this is the moment to hear their voices,' he said. And Lowell isn't even the oldest in Florida. Another Florida survivor, Lithuanian-born Malka Schmulovitz, was recently honored by the city of Miami Beach on her 109th birthday. Schmulovitz was not available for an interview but told the Claims Conference that their experiences must never be forgotten. 'To be one of the oldest survivors alive right now at my age tells me we are running our of time,' Schmulovitz told the Claims Conference. 'We all have a testimony that needs to be shared.' Lowell, for her part, admits trying to put the past behind her as she built a new life in the United States. After decades of staying silent about her experience escaping Auschwitz and surviving the Holocaust — she once turned down interviews with Steven Spielberg's team for his Oscar-winning movie 'Schindler's List' — she has recently decided to share her story. 'At the time, with my husband, we did not talk about it. We wanted a new life, to enjoy each other and [not to] dwell on it,' she said. That change of heart is due, in part, to a recent gift from researchers: long-lost books from Lowell's childhood, including a book of biblical pictures she received as an award for good behavior at her religious school in 1930, when she was just eight-years-old. 'I was shocked,' Lowell said, pausing to reflect. 'I was shocked.' A small and stylish woman with a warm smile, Lowell recently sat in her Miami Beach apartment on Collins Avenue to reflect on those relics, which sparked a flood of painful memories. She thumbed through a book of Jewish philosophy that was given to her older brother Gerhard on the day of his bar mitzvah. Gerhard was later killed in Auschwitz. 'I remember very well — the beautiful party, family… friends. I even remember the dress I wore,' she said, adding that she was just 10 years old at the time. The family books were found in a private collection of 10,000 stolen Jewish books owned by Julius Streicher, a publisher of an antisemitic Nazi newspaper, according to The Sunday Times, and were returned due to the efforts of a project by JewishGen, a resource for Jewish genealogy at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York and the Leo Black Institute. Now, over 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, Lowell looks back on a life that was split into two parts — the before and after. She recalled, in an interview with the Miami Herald, the events that changed the course of her life. 'I've always had a good memory. What can I say? I am blessed that I don't have alzheimer's or any of those illnesses,' she said. 'It's still there.' Remembering the 'before' Before the Holocaust, Lowell lived a happy life with her parents and older brother in Berlin. She recalls 'wonderful' childhood memories — vacationing in the summers with her family and attending the now-famous Olympic Games of 1936, where Jesse Owens made history. She loved sports, dancing, and admiring the beautiful things in life — her mother's stylish wardrobe, for example, which sparked an lifelong interest in fashion design. Then on Nov. 9, 1938, with one violent night, the life Lowell knew and loved began to crumble. Nazis set fire to synagogues — including the one attended by Lowell and her family — and vandalized thousands of Jewish homes and businesses, igniting a wave of violence that killed nearly 100 Jews and led to the arrests and deportations of thousands more. The night later became known as Kristallnacht, or 'Night of Broken Glass,' signaling a turning point in Nazi Germany's persecution against Jewish people, moving from social discrimination and propaganda to violence and terror. The next several years would mark one of the darkest times in human history, both for Lowell and millions of other Jewish people around the world. All in all, six million European Jews and people from other minorities were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. As conditions worsened for Jews — Lowell's parents made arrangements to live with relatives in New York. But, due to travel restrictions, her family never made it to America. 'The consulates had closed, and we did not make it,' she said. 'The whole living room was packed with boxes and crates and suitcases to ship to America. And we got stuck.' Soon after, Lowell's family received a visit one night from Nazi officers, who deported the Emmerich's to the Lodz ghetto in Poland. 'We had just finished supper,' she said. She heard 'a knock on the door, and two Gestapo officers came. They said, 'We have to evict you, to deport you to Poland. So pack what you can carry, because there are no bell boys.' In Lodz, Lowell's family lived in 'primitive' conditions among dozens of other families in the same cramped, cold barrack. Conditions were so unsanitary, that Lowell's parents both died from illness, possibly typhus, a leading epidemic at the time that killed thousands of Jews living in ghettos. Lowell recalls laying in the hospital bed for weeks with high fevers, her head shaved bald from a lice infection. 'My parents, at least they passed away in a bed and not in Auschwitz,' she said. After she reunited with her brother in the ghetto, the two siblings moved out of the barracks and into a small vacancy. Lowell was able to work various jobs while living in the ghetto. She remembers working in a wheat field, planting and sewing, skills that felt foreign to her as someone who grew up in a big city, and another job working in a Nazi-run factory, making household shoes for soldiers. 'When doing the work, I would pick wheat and eat it, and put some in my pocket to bring back for my brother,' she said. Surviving Auschwitz Then, in 1944, after the ghetto was liquidated, Lowell, her brother and two German-speaking coworkers were forced into crowded cattle cars, bringing with them whatever they could carry with them for the long journey. She didn't know it at the time, but Lowell was being transported to Auschwitz. When they arrived at the camp, soldiers separated the men and women, lined them up and ordered them to march in a long line. Lowell became separated from her brother during this time. 'There was a famous doctor ... His name was Joseph Mengele, and he would direct people, 'you go right, you go left.' There were high fences. They were electric, And we saw one figure there stuck on it, because if you wanted to try to escape ... this was Auschwitz.' Joseph Mengele was one of the most infamous figures of the Holocaust, a ghoul who along with other German researchers, conducted terrible medical experiments on prisoners, and selected victims to be murdered in the gas chambers. The last time Lowell would see her brother, whom she adored, was in the concentration camp. 'We were stunned,' Lowell said, adding that she didn't know what was happening to her at the time. She remembers being ordered around by Nazis and living in a barrack with 800 other women in bleak conditions. She slept, with other prisoners, on the concrete floor and was given rags to wear as clothing. Lowell was selected with just 20 other women to go and work in a factory, where the director of the company was kind enough to give her knitting needles to make clothes. 'He gave us burlap yarn and I knitted myself a beautiful dress,' she said. 'I had a dress of my mother's in mind, which was so beautiful on her so I tried to knit something just like her dress.' She doesn't know why or how she was selected (her fluent German may have helped), but the assignment may have helped save her life. Then, the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated on January 27, 1945. Lowell was just 23 years old, with no immediate family or home left to return to. In the aftermath of her time in the camp, Lowell relied on the kindness of strangers to get by and slowly, but surely, she built a new life for herself. Lowell ended up moving to Flushing, Queens to live with her extended family. She worked a job in fashion design at an office near Times Square and soon met her late husband, Frederick Lowell, a businessman in New York City who had also survived a concentration camp. She was married at the age of 26 and went on to live a beautiful life in Manhattan, where she helped her husband build a business. Her days were filled with day trips to the Metropolitan Opera, worldwide travel and fun — she was once a champion water skier. Now in Miami Beach, Lowell is an avid reader, especially of the news, and she loves to watch television and visit with friends. She recently shared her story at an event at the Jewish Museum of Florida, where she said people were 'astonished' and wanted to take pictures with her after the event. After spending the majority of her life avoiding the topic of her survival, Lowell wants people to hear her simple yet important message: 'You should not hate people. You should not discriminate ... Yes, you see what happens,' she said. This story was produced with financial support from Trish and Dan Bell and from donors comprising the South Florida Jewish and Muslim Communities, including Khalid and Diana Mirza, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
Miami Herald
28-04-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Miami Jewish community marks Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day
Hundreds of members of Miami's Jewish community and its allies gathered in Miami Beach to commemorate Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day on Sunday night. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest and deadliest Nazi concentration camp, ending a horrific chapter in human history. All in all, six million European Jews and people from other minorities were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust. The program, held at Temple Emanuel-El and organized by the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach, remembered the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust and honored the legacy of the dwindling number of survivors. The event showcased stories from survivors and from second, third and fourth-generation descendants who are continuing to educate the next generation on the consequences of hate. Currently, there are about 220,800 Holocaust survivors living in 90 countries around the world, with half residing in Israel and about 18 percent in North America, according to a new report from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference. The vast majority, 96 percent, are 'child survivors' who were born after 1928 and more than 1,400 Holocaust survivors are estimated to over 100 years old. Nearly 50 percent of all Holocaust survivors will pass away within the next 6 years, while 70 percent will pass away within 10 years, according to the report. As Holocaust survivors continue to age and pass away, events like the one at Temple Emanu-El become even more important, allowing the stories of survival to live on. This story was produced with financial support from Trish and Dan Bell and from donors comprising the South Florida Jewish and Muslim Communities, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.
Fox News
27-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Ike, my great-grandfather, documented Nazi death camps so world would never forget. I'm continuing his mission
Eighty years ago, as Allied forces moved through a broken Europe in the final days of World War II, my great-grandfather, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, walked into a place that changed him forever: the Nazi concentration camp at Ohrdruf, a subcamp of Buchenwald. What he saw there – piles of corpses, skeletal survivors and evidence of unimaginable cruelty – would stay with him for life. He feared the world might one day try to deny it ever happened. So, he took action. He decided to etch it into the annals of world history. He immediately ordered American troops, members of Congress, and international journalists to visit the camps and document the atrocities. "The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty and bestiality were so overpowering," he wrote to Gen. George Marshall, "I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda." That foresight now feels painfully prophetic. In 2020, a nationwide survey by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany revealed that 63% of U.S. millennials and Gen Z did not know that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Forty-eight percent could not name a single one of the more than 40,000 Nazi concentration camps and ghettos. These aren't just troubling statistics – they're a warning. In a world where misinformation spreads quickly, and where antisemitism is once again on the rise, these gaps in knowledge are dangerous. In parallel, antisemitic incidents in the United States have reached record highs. According to the Anti-Defamation League, in 2023, there were 8,873 documented antisemitic incidents – the highest number since the ADL began tracking such incidents in 1979. That's a 140% increase from the year before. These included physical assaults, vandalism of synagogues and Jewish schools, and a growing presence of antisemitic rhetoric in mainstream discourse and on social media platforms. This year, as we mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, I will participate in the International March of the Living, walking from Auschwitz to Birkenau alongside the president of the State of Israel, 80 Holocaust survivors, survivors of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre in Israel, and students from across the world. We will walk in silence – but our presence will speak loudly. It will say that we remember. That we bear witness. That we will carry forward the testimonies of those who survived and those who perished. It is an honor, as General – and then President – Eisenhower's great-grandson, to continue that legacy of truth-telling by standing on the very soil where the Nazis tried to erase a people. While my great-grandfather is best remembered for his leadership during the war, his legacy as president also includes support for the Jewish people throughout his presidency. During his presidency, Eisenhower oversaw the United States' strengthening of Israel's right to self-defense, its support for Jewish refugees fleeing Europe, and an unmissable condemnation of antisemitism and bigotry in all its forms. In 1958, he dedicated the cornerstone of the Jewish Theological Seminary library, stating, "We must affirm human dignity and decency. For unless we do, civilization itself is in jeopardy." He understood that the battle against hate didn't end with the war, nor with the Jews – it was universal. That is still true today. Holocaust denial and distortion are no longer creeping into our public discourse, they are flooding it. On college campuses, in political rhetoric, and in online forums, attempts to minimize or erase the truths for which Eisenhower and millions of others fought are shockingly left unchallenged. In this context, education isn't just a tool – it's a responsibility. We must teach young people not only what happened in the Holocaust, but why it happened – how hatred, dehumanization and silence allowed genocide to unfold. We must ensure they hear the voices of survivors, see the remnants of the camps and understand what "never again" truly demands of us. When Eisenhower visited Ohrdruf in 1945, he stood as a general. But his decision to shine a light on those horrors was also the act of a human being unwilling to look away. As his great-grandson, I feel the weight of that decision – and the privilege of carrying it forward. He once said, "The hope of the world is that wisdom can arrest conflict between brothers." That wisdom begins with memory. With truth. And with ensuring that future generations never forget what he, and so many others, saw with their own eyes.
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Business Standard
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
70% of Jewish Holocaust survivors will be gone in next 10 yrs: Report
Currently, the survivors' median age is 87, and more than 1,400 of them are over 100 years old, a new report said Tuesday AP Berlin Eighty years after the Holocaust, more than 2,00,000 Jewish survivors are still alive but 70 per cent of them will be gone within the next 10 years meaning time is running out to hear the voices of the last generation who suffered through one of the worst atrocities in history. Currently, the survivors' median age is 87, and more than 1,400 of them are over 100 years old, a new report said Tuesday. We have known that this population of survivors would be the last, our final opportunity to hear their first-hand testimonies, to spend time with them, our last chance to meet a survivor, said Greg Schneider, the executive vice president of the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference, which published the study. The report's analysis of population projections and mortality rates provides details through 2040. It is based on the extensive data collected since 1952 by the Claims Conference, which includes survivors who receive direct payments or social welfare services funded by the organisation as a result of ongoing negotiations with Germany. 90 per cent of Holocaust survivors will pass away in the next 15 years Notably, nearly 50 per cent of all Holocaust survivors will pass away within the next six years, while 70 per cent will die within 10 years and 90 per cent within 15 years, according to the report titled Vanishing Witnesses. Those still alive are often of frail health and suffer from ailments that come with age and have been amplified by traumas in their youth. Six million European Jews were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust. It is not clear exactly how many Jews survived the death camps, the ghettos or somewhere in hiding across Nazi-occupied Europe, but their numbers were a far cry from the pre-war Jewish population in Europe. In Poland, of the 3.3 million Jews living there in 1939, only about 3,00,000 survived. Around 5,60,000 Jews lived in Germany in 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power. After the Holocaust, their numbers had diminished to about 15,000 through emigration and extermination. After the end of World War II, survivors settled all over the globe and even today they are still living in 90 different countries. Mortality rates vary across locations The Vanishing Witnesses report shows that mortality rates for survivors vary greatly across locations depending on access to health care and economic stability. For example, Israel, which is home to about half of all Holocaust survivors, had 1,10,100 survivors as of October 2024 and is estimated to see their population decline to 62,900 by 2030, a drop of 43 per cent. The United States had 34,600 in the fall of 2024, but is projected to lose 39 per cent over that same time, dropping to 21,100 survivors. Countries in the former Soviet Union had 25,500 survivors in October 2024, but are expected to be at 11,800 in five years, down 54 per cent by the start of 2030. This report is a stark reminder that our time is almost up, our survivors are leaving us and this is the moment to hear their voices, said Gideon Taylor, the president of the Claims Conference. Many survivors worry who will keep alive their memories Albrecht Weinberg, a 100-year-old survivor from Germany who lost almost his entire family in the Holocaust, said that even today the horrendous memories are haunting him. I sleep with it, I wake up with it, I sweat, I have nightmares; that is my present. Weinberg survived the concentration and death camps Auschwitz, Mittelbau-Dora, Bergen-Belsen and three death marches at the end of the war. He spent many years teaching high school students and others about the atrocities he had to live through. Still, he worries what will happen when he is no longer around to bear witness. When my generation is not in this world anymore, when we disappear from the world, then the next generation can only read it out of the book. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Independent
22-04-2025
- General
- The Independent
70% of Jewish Holocaust survivors will be gone in the next 10 years, a report shows
Eighty years after the Holocaust, more than 200,000 Jewish survivors are still alive but 70% of them will be gone within the next 10 years — meaning time is running out to hear the voices of the last generation who suffered through one of the worst atrocities in history. Currently, the survivors' median age is 87, and more than 1,400 of them are over 100 years old, a new report said Tuesday. 'We have known that this population of survivors would be the last, our final opportunity to hear their first-hand testimonies, to spend time with them, our last chance to meet a survivor," said Greg Schneider, the executive vice president of the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, also referred to as the Claims Conference, which published the study. The report's analysis of population projections and mortality rates provides details through 2040. It is based on the extensive data collected since 1952 by the Claims Conference, which includes survivors who receive direct payments or social welfare services funded by the organization as a result of ongoing negotiations with Germany. 90% of Holocaust survivors will pass away in the next 15 years Notably, nearly 50% of all Holocaust survivors will pass away within the next six years, while 70% will die within 10 years and 90% within 15 years, according to the report titled ' Vanishing Witnesses." Those still alive are often of frail health and suffer from ailments that come with age and have been amplified by traumas in their youth. Six million European Jews were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust. It is not clear exactly how many Jews survived the death camps, the ghettos or somewhere in hiding across Nazi-occupied Europe, but their numbers were a far cry from the pre-war Jewish population in Europe. In Poland, of the 3.3 million Jews living there in 1939, only about 300,000 survived. Around 560,000 Jews lived in Germany in 1933, the year Adolf Hitler came to power. After the Holocaust, their numbers had diminished to about 15,000 through emigration and extermination. After the end of World War II, survivors settled all over the globe and even today they are still living in 90 different countries. Mortality rates vary across locations The 'Vanishing Witnesses' report shows that mortality rates for survivors vary greatly across locations depending on access to health care and economic stability. For example, Israel, which is home to about half of all Holocaust survivors, had 110,100 survivors as of October 2024 and is estimated to see their population decline to 62,900 by 2030, a drop of 43%. The United States had 34,600 in the fall of 2024, but is projected to lose 39% over that same time, dropping to 21,100 survivors. Countries in the former Soviet Union had 25,500 survivors in October 2024, but are expected to be at 11,800 in five years, down 54 % by the start of 2030. 'This report is a stark reminder that our time is almost up, our survivors are leaving us and this is the moment to hear their voices,' said Gideon Taylor, the president of the Claims Conference. Many survivors worry who will keep alive their memories Albrecht Weinberg, a 100-year-old survivor from Germany who lost almost his entire family in the Holocaust, said that even today the horrendous memories are haunting him. 'I sleep with it, I wake up with it, I sweat, I have nightmares; that is my present.' Weinberg survived the concentration and death camps Auschwitz, Mittelbau-Dora, Bergen-Belsen and three death marches at the end of the war. He spent many years teaching high school students and others about the atrocities he had to live through. Still, he worries what will happen when he is no longer around to bear witness. "When my generation is not in this world anymore, when we disappear from the world, then the next generation can only read it out of the book.'
