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In reply to the discussion: International Holocaust Remembrance Day:Have you ever been to a Concentration Camp or met a survivor [View all]DFW
(56,974 posts)He was a teenager in Den Haag when he was rounded up, and eventually landed in Auschwitz. He carried the tattooed number on his arm for the rest of his life.
He was quite a character, married an Austrian gentile who learned to speak Dutch without losing her thick Viennese accent. It took some getting used to. He was also a soccer fanatic, supporting the Dutch national team when and where possible. One time, when they went to Poland to play the Polish national team, he went with them to see the game. He took an extra day to go back to Auschwitz.
I asked him afterward, "why in the world would you want to go back THERE of all places?"
His answer (typical of him) was, "I wanted to stand before that gate again and gloat that I am still here and you're just a dead relic."