You might wonder why I was chosen to give the closing remarks at tonight’s program. My name is Connie Packman and I am not a child of a Holocaust Survivor. To my knowledge I lost no one in my family in the Holocaust. I was only 8 years old when the US entered into the 2nd world war and have very little recollection of the following 4 years and there was little in the history books during my educational years.

Yet I stand before you as a friend of NEXT GENERATIONS and as their treasurer and VP of fund raising. Why then was I chosen to close this educational evening. Why?

It’s called conscience.

13 Years ago right after the State of Florida mandated Holocaust education from k to 12, a group of women asked me to help organize an organization that would raise funds to train teachers to teach their students about the Holocaust. At that time I was living the life of fun and games that most live when they move to Florida and was not the least bit interested in getting involved in a charity organization. I felt I did that, done that and I liked my life the way it was. But again, what entered into it. Conscience!

My husband and I raised our grandson from the time he was 8 until he was ready to go to college. He went to Spanish River High and though we often helped him with his homework, we never questioned him about his curriculum..

When this group of women called me to help start their organization, I initially said no way, but again my conscience got in the way.

So I called my grandson who was at college at the time and asked him what he learned in high school about the Holocaust. His response was MOM-MOM- nothing. We learned about the 2nd world war, but nothing about the extermination of 6 million Jews. My first lesson about the Holocaust was in my 2nd semester at Penn State when I then realized the horrific of the war.

Once again, my conscience got to me. I believe that God puts us on earth with love and compassion, but the rest is up to us as individuals to help make this world a better place. It is then in our hands. So from that moment, 13 years ago I became obsessive compulsive to make sure that the lessons of the Holocaust will never be forgotten. And I have worked around the clock for all these years to make sure that these lessons will be heard.

But now it is 13 years later and so many of my survivor friends have left us. Think where we will be 13 years from now. So where do we go then?

Again, my conscience tells me there is only one place to go. To the children and grandchildren and heirs of Holocaust survivors to keep the message Alive. It is absolutely imperative to support the important role NEXT GENERATIONS must play in the years to come. For without them, who else? This is not an easy role for this generation. They were raised differently than most of us. Many became the mothers and their parents became the children. Many survivors could not share their painful stories with their children and only now, as adults are NEXT GENERATIONS sorting out the reasons.

In the horrifying world of the Holocaust, where evil took hold of governments and genocide became commonplace, as you witnessed in tonight’s film, courageous non- Jews risked their lives to save Jewish children and their families. These individuals knew they could pay the highest price of all--- but they knew they would pay an even bigger price, ignoring their conscience, so they did what they had to do.

Humanity from all corners of the universe continue to suffer horrific crimes motivated by ethnic, religious and racial bias. We teach our children the lessons of the Holocaust with the hope that the world will respond differently to these cries of help, but it seems that Never Again happens again and again and again.

 So now in closing I want to ask all of you to listen to your conscience. You can support NEXT GENERATIONS by joining and becoming a friend of NG. Our dreams lie within our children and each of you can make a difference.  Albert Einstein said “ The world is too dangerous to live in- not because of the people who do evil, but because of the people who sit and let it happen.”

I thank our friends of Temple Beth-El Sisterhood for partnering with NG tonight and especially want to thank my beautiful friend (inside and out) Asa Loof for telling her extraordinary story of the brave people of Scandinavia and to the Bick Family for being here tonight and allowing us to honor this extraordinary woman who I unfortunately knew only a short time but did know first hand the values she instilled in not only her family but in all others who knew her.

Thank you for sharing this evening,

NEXT GENERATIONS TESTIMONAL

by Howard Herskowitz

I have so much to be thankful for to NEXT GENERATIONS. First, to Nancy Dershaw and then to all the wonderful NEXT GENERATIONS' members for their friendship, kindness, camaraderie and understanding. You have all been a wonderful support and positive influence for me in recent years, especially in connection with my own journey through “Aaron’s Journey – From Slave to Master.”

Unlike most survivors of the Holocaust my parents freely spoke about their experiences. While my mother, Helen Herskowitz, endured the tragedy of Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, and other death camps, my late father, Aaron Herskowitz, related an incredible tale that my siblings and I thrilled to as an epic adventure, that in its own unique way is far different than anything in Holocaust literature or history.

"So Dad, how many Nazis did you kill?" was the question I always asked my father as a young boy.

He often kept me spellbound with stories about his incredible struggles and fantastic escapes from the Nazis, so it was the most natural follow-up question for a boy to ask.  Somehow, though, my father always avoided answering that one question. He would manage either to waltz out of the room or to skillfully change the subject. 

But at last, after decades of talking with my father about the events of his youth, I videotaped, audiotaped and took extensive notes in a series of interviews with him. He was well known in the family and local community as a captivating storyteller, who could enhance his testimony even more so by impersonating the facial expressions and voices of other characters, including his incredible memory of the very conversations he had with these people. As he began to tell his story, it quickly became apparent that all the hours I’d spent listening to him as a boy had not prepared me for the full breadth of the horror, madness, and triumph he had endured.

One of the greatest impressions left upon me was Aaron’s resistance against the Nazis, especially when he had to kill his would-be Nazi assassins, sometimes with his bare hands; and then upon his escape, his ultimate revenge against his erstwhile tormentors for their crimes against humanity. To me and to my siblings, Aaron was a hero greater than any we had ever experienced in literature, history or on the silver screen. There are too few stories of Jewish resistance arising out of the Holocaust. Yes, there was the Warsaw ghetto uprising, the miraculous story of the Bielsky brothers, amongst very few others.

After I grew up and then became a lawyer, I maintained empathy for the innocent underdog, and experienced the same sympathetic passions in my study of history, where innocent outnumbered individuals or nations achieved victory against overwhelmingly superior odds. Drawing upon my historical and family roots as the son of two survivors, I have striven to become a champion of the underdog.

But as Aaron’s story continued to unfold, during my continual talks and interviews with him, and as my own research and study of the Holocaust grew, I did find myself plagued by another simple question that has fascinated many historians and observers about the plight of the Jews during the Nazi occupation: Why didn’t they fight back? And where was God? As Aaron’s tale unfolded, I began to understand the untold truth kept virtually secret until now, revealed in the book I’ve written: “Aaron’s Journey - From Slave to Master,” the site for which   can now be quickly accessed on the web at aaronsjourney.com.

When I completed the book in its pre-final form, I gave a copy to Nancy Dershaw. I’ll never forget when she called me the next day and said “Howard, I couldn’t put it down. Before I started to read I thought it was going to be another Holocaust story, but it’s NOT. It’s the most incredible unique action packed story of survival and revenge, and it has affected me so emotionally, that I had to call you. I had to cancel appointments and meetings just so that I could finish it without interruption. Your father was one of the greatest heroes of the Jewish people ever. This story needs to be told to the world. And you have written it so beautifully.” I couldn’t thank Nancy enough for her kind support. I told Nancy that her reaction was similar to those I’ve been receiving from Jews and non-Jews alike, since the theme is universal. The background just happens to be the Holocaust. Other NEXT GENERATIONS' members have read the book and have given me similar encouragement. And now NEXT GENERATIONS has been kind and gracious enough to have me as a guest speaker about Aaron’s Journey on a panel about heroes of the Holocaust.

And indeed Aaron was heroic. After surviving years of terror after the Nazis and their Hungarian allies forced him into slave labor upon their invasion of Russia, Aaron escaped to the Russian side, for whom he became a hero, crossing back over enemy lines, arresting and capturing hundreds of Nazi officers and spies. When the tide of war turned, the Russians appointed Aaron as overlord of a captured enemy town. Thus, in an incredible reversal of fortune, Aaron became master of his former tormentors. The Russians gave him full authority to punish those enemies who committed crimes against humanity. It is this ordeal that tested Aaron’s own capacity for humanity itself.

As the late senator Tom Lantos quoted an ancient proverb upon reviewing a draft of Aaron’s Journey: “Don’t judge a man until you have walked two moons in his own shoes.”

Again, many thanks to Nancy, Rose, Zvi, Judi, Brenda, and all the other members of NEXT GENERATIONS for which I don’t have the space to name for their undying support. And NEXT GENERATIONS must always be recognized for the many invaluable programs, services, and education the organization brings to the entire community. I look forward to working with NEXT GENERATIONS for many years to come.

Kindest Personal Regards,

AUGUST 12, 2010

Dear Friends,

Many of you are friends with my father, George Salton or know him from his book, The 23rd Psalm:  A Holocaust Memoir.  We are writing to share some incredible and wonderful news about a discovery that we made just this week.

You may know that my father is a survivor of the Holocaust having been born in the small town of Tyczyn, Poland.  He was to enter the 6th grade in September 1939 when the Nazis occupied Poland and his life changed forever.  His name was Lucjan Saltzman(n).  His family was forced to move into Rzeszow Ghetto and then his parents, Anna and Herman Salzmann, were sent in boxcars to the Belzec Extermination Camp where 600,000 Jews were gassed in just over 11 months.  My father and his older brother, Manek, remained in the ghetto and worked as forced labor in a factory camp in Rzeszow.  After my father was imprisoned at the camp, Manek escaped from the ghetto.  Over the next few months he somehow managed to pass several notes to my father in the factory. The last note stated that dangerous activities would make it impossible for Manek to contact him again and that they should meet after the war by contacting relatives who had managed to emigrate to New York before the war.

My father was liberated on May 2, 1945 by American soldiers of the 82nd Airborne after 3 years in 10 concentration camps.  He spent another 2 years in various German Displaced Persons Camps, and was
eventually able to find his relatives and emigrate to New York.  He never heard from any of his family including Manek.  Rumor was that Manek was killed in the forests with other young partisans fighting the Nazis. 

Last Friday during an Internet search of newly digitized post war records, I came across a list of Tyczyn Jewish Survivors who remained in Poland or left for other countries after the war.  Manek Salzmann, son of Herman, was on the list. 

On Monday I contacted a researcher at the U.S. Memorial Holocaust Museum who found a copy of a separate document that showed that Manek Salzmann of Tyczyn, Poland, son of Herman, was alive in Poland as of December 17, 1946.  My parents, my brothers, and I are overcome with emotion and disbelief that Manek or any family he may have later had may be alive today.

We have filed formal papers with the Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Center that is part of the American Red Cross.  They will coordinate a search for documents or information across the globe.  We have researchers assisting us in the US Memorial Holocaust Museum and have only begun to contact the many agencies and organizations that might help us track Manek's steps after December 1946.  He may have gone to Australia, Venezuela, Israel or Russia or any of the 43 countries that accepted Jewish War Refugees in 1947.

We ask that you keep us in your thoughts and prayers.  help share our story and join in our search for Manek.  We did not dare dream that this day would come, that we would find Manek's name on a list of survivors.  At least we know now that he did live to see freedom and did not die at the hands of the Nazis.

Anna Salton Eisen
eisenfam@aol.com
(817)239-3113
George Salton
glsalton@aol.com

TO:   Supporters of Holocaust and Genocide Education

George has been a devoted and tireless worker and speaker for local schools as well as in many cities around the country.  This fall he will be an Honored Speaker in Holland commemorating the liberation of that country.  Let us all hope and pray that he will soon find his family.  If anyone has a connection to help, please try.  Let's all try to help find Manek!