Last Treblinka survivor dies, aged 93

Incredible story. I had the privilege of speaking to an Auschwitz survivor a number of years ago. She was a smart, cheerful, incredibly irreverent woman. She passed about a year ago and I'll always have a twinge of regret that I was never able to stop by for a second conversation.

For those not familiar with Treblinka, it was one of the worst Nazi atrocities of the Holocaust, and that's damn saying a lot. It has never got the news exposure that Auschwitz did, or some of the other "camps" in eastern Europe, and that alone is a travesty.

caw

Many years ago when I was a young man in Salt Lake City, there was exactly one authentic Jewish delicatessen in the city.

It was run by Lu Dornbush, a Dutch holocaust survivor. He was a cheerful man who worked behind the counter, and in the summer when he wore a shirt with the sleeves rolled up you could see that chilling blue tattooed serial number on his forearm.

I'm guessing not a whole lot of people on this site have ever seen that, and the younger ones of course never will. God willing.

As a Jew, I can't begin to tell you the emotional impact of seeing that number tattooed into his flesh. "Never forget" is real to us older folks, but will soon become nothing more than a catchphrase of history. I suppose that's a good thing.

I've seen the tattoo as well (at Yad Vashem) and it was a chilling sight, indeed.

Though Treblinka survivors are all gone now, you can still hear the stories of Holocaust survivors in person, at Yad Vashem. I would recommend it highly for anyone visiting Jerusalem. It's not an opportunity that will be around much longer.