KUMEU WI NEWS At the August meeting, Mr Ben Steiner told his moving story of how, as an 8 year old Hungarian Jewish boy, he was suddenly taken from his Catholic boarding school, herded into a crowded cattle truck and transported to the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. On arrival, the detainees were separated into 3 groups. Those who were young and fit were assigned to work parties. The old, infirm and most of the children were lead straight to the Gas Chambers. However a third group was taken away by “nurses” to a special building where they were to be used as “guinea pigs” for medical experiments. Ben was part of this group. He did not go into much detail about the horrors the children suffered, but he did mention the large scars that he still retains from the experimental operations. He was very lucky to be still alive when the American troops arrived in 1945. After a period of time in a Danish sanatorium, he was eventually reunited with his parents in Hungary. As a student, he later took part in the Hungarian uprising during 1956, after which he escaped to the West. Hearing about NZ and imagining a tropical island of dancing, top-less, Maori maidens he decided to emigrate here. A Grey Power representative will be the Speaker at our next meeting on September 3rd at the Kumeu Community Centre, when members of the Helensville WI will join us. For information phone Joan 09 411 8964 or Doreen 09 416 9522.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 01:21:08 +0000