MIAMI – There are about 38,000 Holocaust survivors in the United States, 3,000 of them in Florida, including a man named Jack Waksal, who is about to turn 100. He told his story of survival to CBS News Miami at the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial.
Waksal reflected on the atrocities of the Nazis and the miracle of his survival.
CBS News Miami first met Waksal as he walked the lonely path at the memorial, searching for the names of his loved ones murdered in the Holocaust.
“I will never forget my life, my father and my mother,” said Waksal. “I always had a beautiful life with my brothers and sister.”
Waksal says his entire family was killed in the Holocaust.
“I am so sorry that I survived and you did not,” Waksal said.
He was born in Poland in 1924. When he was 15, the Nazis invaded his hometown and imprisoned his family in ghettos and later in labor camps.
“If some survived, it was a miracle,” Waksal said.
Waksal describes the horror of digging graves and watching the Nazis bury children alive.
“They threw them into the graves without bullets and left them no choice but to pour sand over them,” Waksal recalled.
Waksal remembers how he arrived at his first labor camp in January 1940.
“I was threatened with death five or six times,” Waksal said.
As he stared at the reflecting pool at the memorial, he remembered a daring escape in 1941 when the Nazis ordered him and his friend to kneel next to a grave.
“Before they take us away to kill, we’ll get that officer,” Waksal told his friend. “We fought for a few minutes. I jumped over the grave on the other side and ran through the forest all night.”
But he ended up in a labor camp again and survived four camps during the Holocaust before finally escaping in September 1944.
He married his wife, a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp. He moved to the USA in 1950 and has three children and 17 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
“If Hitler had survived, he would have killed himself,” Waksal said. “He couldn’t believe it. What happened, what did these Jews give to the world?”
Waksal’s greatest gift was his life and his Jewish family. He will be 100 years old on September 15th. The Marlins honored him over the weekend. His grandson was at his side.
“Show the world that we will never give up,” Waksal said.
A 100-year journey that continues to inspire the next generation.
Joe Gorchow
