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Message Of Tolerance Resonates With Students

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By GEOFF FOX

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 8, 2008

ZEPHYRHILLS - Abe Gold was prisoner No. 49119.

At 82, he isn't likely to forget the number that was stitched into his shirt and punched on his dog tag. Nor is he likely to forget the excruciating hunger and terrifying desperation that came with being held in one of World War II's infamous Nazi death camps.

Gold spent two class periods this past week detailing his experiences at Auschwitz and a smaller camp to more than 120 10th-grade English and social studies students at Zephyrhills High School. The classes have been studying intolerance.

At Auschwitz, Gold's parents, two sisters and a brother were killed by Nazis. The family had been taken there from their native Cluj, Romania, in 1944.

"We had to take off our clothes; they shaved our heads," he said.

As he talked about how his family was separated, Gold's voice cracked. Along with his twin brother, Martin, Gold was the youngest of 10 siblings, and he last saw six members of his family at Auschwitz.

A machinist, Gold was 19 when he arrived at the camp. Because his brother was a cabinetmaker, they were separated after a few days. With other Jewish prisoners, he was loaded onto a train and rode about a day to a smaller concentration camp, where he worked on a factory drill machine.

"I was lucky," he said. "Some kids had to work on the outside, and they couldn't make it. The SS was right on top of them."

Every morning, prisoners were given black coffee and a small loaf of bread to split among three people. Gold said he was given five lashes across his back one morning when he was caught dividing the bread evenly.

He remembered gathering scraps of food off the ground and hording potato peels to eat. After about a month, he said, prisoners started dying of hunger. Other times, people were taken outside and shot.

They never knew who would be killed next.

One day, two brothers escaped the camp by draping a blanket over an electrified fence and climbing over. Three days later, the brothers were captured and returned to the camp, where they were hung in front of everyone.

"You couldn't ask God for help," Gold said. "He wasn't there when my mother and father were killed, so you couldn't ask God for anything."

Despite his experiences, Gold, who responded to a student's question, said he doesn't hate Germans.

"Every human being is a human being," he said. "I don't care if they're black, white, green or yellow. The worst thing you can do is generalize."

His message seemed to resonate with several students.

"I thought it was heart-touching," said Joshua Eskelund. "It almost brings tears to your eyes to think of what they've been through."

Student Jason Williams said he was moved by Gold's words.

"I thought it was a very good speech about tolerance," he said. "He sees people honorably. There's good and bad in the world, but he sees beyond that."

Teacher James Washington said his wife found Gold, of Sebring, through connections at the Hernando County Arts Council.

"We had been trying to find a Holocaust survivor," Washington said. "The number of survivors is starting to dwindle, and we wanted the kids to get a firsthand account."

He said Gold's presentation was broadcast to every classroom on a closed-circuit system.

Gold told students about a brief conversation he had one day with an elderly prison guard.

"He told me, 'Today, the sun shines on us. Tomorrow, the sun shines on you,'" he said.

The next day, as the Nazis fled from Russian troops, Gold walked out of the concentration camp alone. He boarded a train and made it back to Cluj, where he was reunited with his five older brothers, who had served in the Romanian army.

Gold's twin, Martin, died shortly after being freed.

In 1949, Gold came to the United States and settled in New York, where he opened a printing shop and got married. He has lived in Florida for about 21/2 years.

After his speech, Gold spent about 30 minutes talking and taking pictures with students.

As she waited to speak with Gold, student Rheannon Bahneman said she found his speech "moving and interesting."

"I like the don't-judge-people thing," she said. "Everybody should do that. It's a powerful message."

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or gfox@tampatrib.com.

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