Holocaust survivor shares his story with Austin Prep

A German Holocaust survivor who later became an American citizen and helped liberate a concentration camp toward the end of World War II shared his story with Austin Preparatory Middle School students last week.

Mr. Stephan Lewy, 90, of Manchester, NH, recounted the harrowing tale of his childhood for seventh-graders at the Reading school. Born in Berlin, Germany in 1925, he gave a first-hand perspective of what it was like to be Jewish in the 1930s and 1940s as Hitler came into power.

“In 1935, the racial purification started in earnest,” Mr. Lewy said. “Hitler began targeting those he considered to be ‘not pure.’ ”

His mother died when he was age 6 and his father, a Jewish businessman, struggled to raise him on his own. He was separated from his father, who was sent to a concentration camp (and later released). Living in an orphanage, Mr. Lewy said Jewish students were eventually sent to separate schools and endured beatings by Hitler Youth groups.

His father remarried, but he was not allowed to live with his family. As a young teenager, Mr. Lewy was sent to France without his father and stepmother to escape persecution. When Germany invaded France in 1940, he made several attempts to flee, eventually making his way to unoccupied France. His father and stepmother managed to immigrate to the United States and, eventually, he was reunited with them.

Mr. Lewy became a U.S. citizen in 1944, and joined the Army. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and eventually helped liberate the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

He speaks to groups and students about his experiences to help eliminate much of the racism that still exists today.

“Everybody in this world is equal … Nobody should be hurt along the way,” Mr. Lewy said. “My advice to everybody: Do not hate. Hate is motivated by fear and fear is motivated by lack of knowledge.”

After his presentation, some seventh-graders and seniors had lunch with Mr. Lewy and were able to ask him questions.