A Day Never to Be Forgotten

A Day Never to Be Forgotten
I saw a strange car coming down the hill
bearing…a white star.
I’ve never seen a brighter star in my life.
You could see far away, the gate, opened.
The gates came crashing in.
You saw the soldiers marching in.
They were like angels who came out of nowhere to give us life.
“The Americans are here! We are free!”
Oh my God, what a sight.
There were bodies lying around.
Some of them half dead.
They’d been in the same prison for who knows how long.
150 prisoners looked more like skeletons than human beings.
We told them they didn’t have to hide anymore.
“From now on you are free! You are liberated by the Allied forces!”
“You are free people!”
It’s impossible, the war must be over…
The war is over!
I cannot even call it happiness, it was much more than that.
“You are liberated.”
I started to cry.
“You are free.”
We started to cry and embrace each other
“We are free.”
Everybody was crying.
We were free.
We were finally free.
The people were jumping and hugging and kissing.
I was overjoyed because all people around me were overjoyed and were singing and dancing.
A totally shattering experience.
It wasn’t easy to pick up the pieces.
It was like, so now what?
I am alive and I’ve survived.
A natural strength entered my body.
They allowed me…to be a Jew again.
“I am Jewish, you know…”
“So am I.”
That gesture restored me to humanity.
It was by far the greatest miracle that I survived.
“You are free.”
Thank you,
thank you,
thank you.
That day will always be in my mind:
January 21st, 1945
January 27th, 1945
April 11th, 1945
April 29th, 1945
May 5th, 1945
This was a day never to be forgotten.
We are free…
We are free…
We are free…

Thank you to:
Vera Schiff Nate Leipciger Bart Stern
Pinchas Gutter Max Eisen Gerda Weissman Klein
Judy Lysy Nancy Kleinberg Kurt Klein
Elly Gota Faigie Libman Abraham Lewent
Judy Cohen Robert Engel Alan Zimm
George Salton Dallas Peyton Frank Hamburger
James Rose Sol Blaufeld Charolette Chancy
Felix Flicker Leon Greenman Belinna Aronvich
Lili Meier

For sharing their incredible and memorable stories.