Russell Thayer Professor Neuburger English Comp.

102 26 March 2012 David Abrams Survivor Testimony David Abrams was born in Romania on December 8th of 1928. He was born to Joseph and Amile Abrams, who were bakers, and orthodox Jews. He had four siblings, and lived in a small town of approximately 16,000 people ( a quarter of which were Jewish). At the beginning of the interview, he reads a powerful statement (composed prior to the interview), ostensibly addressing a global audience, and states * Never believe that it cant happen here, in your country. They said the same thing in Germany. He was fifteen years old when the holocaust was initiated, and spoke some basic German. Abrams admits during the first segment that he possesses a very acute memory, which serves the testimony greatly. The mans dedication to his Jewish heritage is admirable, and when asked by the interviewer whether or not he had any interests besides the Tora during his childhood, he simply smiles and replies, No. I never went to a cinema. He recalls being taken by the Germany army during the night, and subsequently transported by locomotive to the dreaded Auschwitz concentration Camp. His descriptions of the train ride to Auschwitz are perhaps the most visceral and horrific, as his designated transport group was inhumanly stripped searched, relieved of what little belongings they had left, and jammed into repugnant railcars. There was not even room to stretch out, he remembers, and his facial expression seems to echo the pain and hardship endured by him and his family. Abrams, like most holocaust survivors, frequently attributes his survival, and later economic success, to a

supernaturally derived sense of hope and perseverance. This is perhaps the primary reason that numerous materials, and oral testimonies, extrapolated from the Jewish community use hope as a recurring theme. They, quite literally, had nothing else to compel them, when the broader, metaphysical context is understood.

*This is my selected quote