Holocaust survivor Esther Clifford of Monroe is escorted by grandson Justin Clifford of Colonia and Monroe High School student Stephanie Modzelewski during the Yom Hashoa commemoration of the Henry Ricklis Holocaust Memorial Committee.
Photos by Debra Rubin
Harry Weiss of Monroe lights a yahrzeit candle at the memorial observance.
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April 28, 2009
The personal recollections of Holocaust survivors, rescuers, and those who liberated concentration camps must be heard and passed on by younger generations.
“Time is taking its toll,” said Jay Ellis Brown, chair of the Henry Ricklis Holocaust Memorial Committee, during its annual Yom Hashoa program held April 19 at Monroe High School.
That point was driven home when Brown informed the almost 600 attendees that the program’s scheduled keynote speaker, Irving Gerenstein — who had taken part in the liberation of a German concentration camp while a staff sergeant with the U.S. Army — had just died.
Audience members gasped when Brown announced, “I’m sorry to tell you we lost Irv Gerenstein.” The 89-year-old Monroe resident had died April 1. Brown went on to read the names of several Holocaust survivors from Monroe’s adult communities who had also died in recent weeks.
In Gerenstein’s honor, the “second generation” — his daughter, Brima Gerenstein Goldstein of Chappaqua, NY — related her father’s story, which is on file with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
The program was cosponsored by the Jewish Congregation of Clearbrook, Jewish Congregation of Concordia, Greenbriar at Whittingham adult community, Congregation Etz Chaim Monroe Township Jewish Center, Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County, and Second Generation Holocaust Survivors.
After people lit hundreds of individual yahrzeit candles, survivors were led to their seats by Monroe High School students holding yellow roses.
Survivors who regularly visit the high school to share their experiences are videotaped by students for others to view in years to come. The Ricklis committee also runs an annual essay contest in the public schools. This year’s winners, Kayla Eisenberg and Sarah Nale, read their selections.
Monroe superintendent of schools Dr. Ken Hamilton addressed the gathering. “Very few atrocities in the history of the world are as tragic as the Holocaust,” he said, adding that as an African-American, he was especially struck by the hatred directed toward Jews because of their religion. The solution to such a tragedy of such enormity never happening again is “to educate children to embrace the diversity of this great country.”
Survivors and their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were called up to light menoras in memory of those who perished or to honor a survivor relative. The youth choir of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick performed.
Goldstein recounted her father’s story. He was on patrol with five other soldiers in April 1945 when they heard something through the trees. Still wary of German troops, the men drew their rifles and bayonets and moved toward the sound.
Suddenly they were confronted with a guard tower behind a barbed wire fence. Through the wire, they could see a group of frail people; Gerenstein spotted the yellow star of David on the uniforms.
“Dad realized this was one of those concentration camps he had heard about,” said Goldstein. “Dad told one of the men, ‘Shoot off the damn lock.’”
She recalled her father’s telling her he had a lump in his throat as he approached a man standing just inside the gate, and in German, asked his name and what had happened to the Germans.
The inmate identified himself as Shmuel and said the Germans had run off into the woods.
“Then Dad realized he was a Jew — Shmuel was a Jew — why was he speaking German?” said Goldstein. “He switched to Yiddish.”
Gerenstein learned Shmuel was from Poland, but he seemed puzzled, finally inquiring, “How is it you know such good Jewish?”
Lighting a candle on a menora at the Ricklis committee Yom Hashoa commemoration are, from left, Janet and Jack Kusher and Adele Black and her son Stephen. Jack Kusher and Adele Black are children of survivors.
Telling his men to put down their weapons, Goldstein said her father replied, “I am an American-Jewish soldier and I am here to save you.”
Shmuel turned and shouted to the others, “The Americans are here! The Americans are here!” as bedlam broke out in the camp.
Gerenstein told his men to break open their K-rations to feed the hungry inmates, a move he later found out was a mistake because the food was too rich for their long-starving bodies to process.
He sent one of the men to tell his commanding officer about the camp and alert the Red Cross.
Shmuel handed him a letter he had written to his uncle, a rabbi in Arizona. Gerenstein wrote his own letter to the rabbi and mailed both.
Two weeks later he received a package from the uncle that included a huge box of chocolates and a message blessing him.
“The two things my father regretted were that he never said Kaddish for the ones lost at that camp, and through all the excitement, he never learned the name of the camp,” said Goldstein. “My father was always so proud of his role in history. He told his story in Hebrew schools and public schools.”
The legacy he left, she added, was a love of Judaism and to never forget.
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