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Auschwitz survivor resumes speaking in Iowa for first time since pandemic
Holocaust survivor to speak in Cedar Rapids, Mount Vernon

Mar. 18, 2022 6:00 am
For 70 years after he was liberated from the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, Holocaust survivor Michael Bornstein generally didn’t talk much about his survival.
For most of his life, it was easier for Bornstein, now 81, to focus on the positive. For years after losing her husband and another son, his mother, who also survived the concentration camp, would say her personal refrain in Hebrew: “Gam Zeh Yaavor — This too shall pass.”
“It’s a story of optimism,” he said. “We managed to survive in Poland, Germany. … Even though things look bleak, remember that ‘this too shall pass.’”
But for the aging group who vowed to “never again” let mass industrialized genocide rear its head, the assurances that history won’t repeat itself are becoming thinner and thinner.
Now, Bornstein and daughter Debbie Bornstein Holinstat, authors of the New York Times bestseller “Survivors Club: The True Story of a Very Young Prisoner of Auschwitz,” are resuming tours that put the power of a living Holocaust survivor’s testimony in front of others. Their tours in Iowa — March 27 to 29 — will be the first time they have traveled to speaking engagements since the pandemic began.
The father and daughter from North Caldwell, New Jersey, have ties to Iowa. Bornstein received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in 1965. Bornstein Holinstat started her career as a broadcast news producer in Ottumwa and Waterloo.
“This is not ancient history. This guy who’s on the sidelines screaming indiscriminately at my kids at their soccer games — this man was there,” said Bornstein Holinstat. “It’s powerful but it’s scary — this is the last generation of kids who will hear from this survivor.”
If you go:
What: Bestselling author and Auschwitz concentration camp survivor Michael Bornstein and his co-author daughter, Debbie Bornstein Holinstat, will be speaking during a tour of Eastern Iowa.
When and where:
March 27 at 7 p.m., Coe College, Sinclair Auditorium, 1220 First Ave. NE, Cedar Rapids
March 28 at 6:30 p.m., Cornell College, Hall-Perrine Room, 600 First St., Mount Vernon
March 29 at 11:15 a.m., Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Hall, Room 234, 6301 Kirkwood Blvd. SW, Cedar Rapids
Details: Events are free to the public and no tickets are required. Book signings to follow each event
For more information: Call Jim Bernstein at (319) 573-2221
For decades, Bornstein was seen in iconic historical photos and videos of Soviet soldiers liberating children in Auschwitz. When Bornstein first saw the photo used in the 1981 film “The Chosen,” he recognized the number on one boy’s arm.
The number, B1148, was the one still legible on his arm to this day. After coming to the United States in 1951, it was one he did his best to hide at his Manhattan public school.
Now, it’s a point of pride and proof of how far he’s come.
Prompted to talk more about his experience by his grandson’s bar mitzvah project, Bornstein’s Internet research revealed antisemitic websites that are part of the rising tide of antisemitic thought and hate crimes around the world. In his grandson’s own school, a “Kill All the Jews” message group was discovered.
“It’s not funny when you (make fun of) Hispanics, Asian people. That’s where it started,” Bornstein said. “The Holocaust didn’t start by just murdering people. It started by the negativity and the discussion that Hitler had in ‘Mein Kampf.’”
“It started with jokes about Jews, graffiti on the walls and propaganda against their communities,” Bornstein Holinstat said. “People need to remember what happens when you let that go unanswered.”
Today, they see history repeating itself in ways large and small — from discrimination against racial minorities and the LGBTQ community to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is expected to displace the largest number of people in Europe since World War II.
“Misinformation is incredibly dangerous,” said Bornstein Holinstat. “There are so many educated, smart people who believe false things.”
His memories
Bornstein was 4 years old when he entered the concentration camp, where he lived for six months before liberation.
With little use for labor, most young children were killed upon arrival or within a few weeks.
“Most everyone shakes their head and calls it a miracle,” said Bornstein Holinstat, who did extensive historical research to write their book.
His single slice of bread given to him in the children’s bunks each day was stolen by starving older children. His mother would sneak in to give him part of her bread, for which she sustained scars on the head from being beaten.
But there are still distinct things seared into his memory: the smell of burning flesh from mass body incinerations, the German yelling of Nazi soldiers, and being hungry enough to sneak into trash cans to find moldy potato peels to eat.
As his body atrophied, Bornstein’s grandmother placed him into the infirmary right before death marches from Auschwitz started at the end of World War II, helping him survive.
His daughter said it was believed that the Germans were often germaphobic — one possible reason they didn’t clear the infirmary first.
After liberation, Bornstein’s family was refused entry into the home they owned before in Zarki, Poland, forcing them to live in a chicken coop for some time.
Despite everything they went through, their optimism remained as strong as their luck. Though Bornstein’s father and older brother died in the Holocaust, all of his mother’s six siblings survived and were scattered throughout Europe and Japan after the war.
It was a stark contrast to other survivors after the war. In Munich, Bornstein heard of severely depressed younger children who would often jump out of the windows in buildings housing displaced people to kill themselves.
In some ways, Bornstein and his daughter are thankful that the memories of Auschwitz are limited by his age. But as the group of Holocaust survivors grows smaller and smaller with time, they hope to educate as many as possible to keep the Holocaust itself within memory.
Comments: (319) 398-8340; elijah.decious@thegazette.com
Soviet soldiers captured this image of Bobeshi, Michael’s grandmother Dora (center), carrying him out of Auschwitz in 1945. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park)
On the cover of his book, Michael Bornstein is seen in a photo of children at Auschwitz rolling up their sleeves to show Soviet soldiers their concentration camp tattoos. “Survivors Club,” published in 2017, was a New York Times bestseller. (Michael Bornstein)
Holocaust survivor Michael Bornstein shows his tattoo while speaking about his experiences at Auschwitz in 2015. (Bruce Challgren, PhotoPixels, LLC)
Michael Bornstein is seen with his mother, Sophie Bornstein, in this photo taken after the German invasion of Zarki, Poland. (Michael Bornstein)
Michael Bornstein’s naturalization card identifying him as a displaced person when he arrived to the United States in 1951. (Michael Bornstein)
Michael Bornstein (left) and Debbie Bornstein Holinstat (right) stand with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (center) at the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz in January 2020. Zelenskiy holds Bornstein’s kiddish cup, a family treasure rescued from their home’s vault after the war ended. (Michael Bornstein)
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