Remembrance Day Intro:
Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014 marked the annual day of remembrance in Canada. Honouring the sacrifices of those who defend our rights, each Nov. 11 since the end of the First World War, we reflect on our past in the hopes of building a better future. Remembrance Day is not a celebration of the lives we have lost, but a chance to pay our respects. For a single moment of silence at 11 am, we honour both the men and women who serve and protect the liberties that we are privileged to experience, and those who lost their lives in defence of that privilege. We remember so that we may never forget the sacrifices of war and the consequences of peace.
Nate Leipciger Article:
The University of Guelph was proud to host Holocaust survivor Nate Leipciger on Thursday, Nov. 6. Leipciger’s talk, as part of the university’s Holocaust Education Week, was organized by the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, the Orthodox Union, and Guelph Hillel. The event took place in a full capacity Peter Clark Hall, with an audience comprised of a mix of students and non-students.
Realistic and clever, with eyes that hide a wealth of experience, Leipciger is neither spirited nor stiff. Instead, he exudes an aura of intelligence and history. Though the subject matter was serious, Leipciger emphasized the importance of comedy.
“If you don’t have humour, even in the worst situations, life is not worth living,” explained Leipciger.
During the 45-minute talk, Leipciger recounted the horrific events that led to his family’s displacement in 1939 from their homes in Poland to a Jewish Ghetto. Over the course of the Second World War, Leipciger and his family were torn apart by the efforts of Germany’s former Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler.
“We cannot, for one minute, take it for granted that our world is safe, because it’s not,” said Leipciger.
Though his retelling was detailed, it was evident that the memories of the war weighed heavily on Leipciger’s mind. Throughout various points in his talk, Leipciger paused to collect his emotions; these pauses were not for dramatic effect, and it was through what wasn’t said that he affected his captive audience.
When he discussed 1941 – when he and his family were displaced from their homes due to the actions of the Nazi party – Leipciger spoke calmly. However, it was evident that he still felt devastated at the thought of his family being displaced and thrown into ghettos.
In 1943, this ghetto was surrounded by Nazi troops, and the citizens were slowly evicted to concentration camps. Leipciger and his family were able to survive by hiding in close-quarters with 30 other people.
Leipciger recounted a story of a mother attempting to hide with his family. The mother was with a new-born infant, and promised that her crying child would not give away their hiding place. During a search, the baby was killed by one of the people hiding with Leipciger.
Leipciger explained that he recounted the story of the mother and her baby because the baby was a life “we can identify with.”
Eventually, Leipciger and his family were captured and sent to a concentration camp in 1943. He and his father were irrevocably separated from the rest of their family.
Those interned in labour and concentration camps were separated based on their ability to work. Leipciger was initially separated from his father, and he thought hope was lost until the surprising compassion of a Nazi officer allowed him to be reunited with his father. Throughout Leipciger’s internment, three separate Nazi officers prevented a separation between father and son.
Though he didn’t condone their actions, Leipciger was adamant that not every German citizen was inhuman. However, Leipciger was nonetheless quick to question the Nazi Party’s hatred of the Jewish people.
“Why were they killing us?” asked Leipciger. “We gave them everything, and they took everything we had. It was because I was born, by accident, to Jewish parents. We all have no control over who our parents are. In 1943, that was an offence punishable by gas.”
From 1943, when he and his father found themselves in Auschwitz, until 1945, when the war ended, Leipciger harrowingly survived wrongful incarceration in seven concentration camps. The cruelest irony occurred on May 9, 1945, one day after the Nazi surrender, when Leipciger contracted typhus fever and nearly died.
“I remember asking God ‘why?’” said Leipciger. “After everything I had been through – and survived – why kill me now?”
Eventually, Leipciger recovered, and he and his father immigrated to Canada. In 1948, three years after the Second World War ended, Leipciger entered Grade 12 in a Canadian high school. Despite his relocation, however, Leipcig still experienced persecution at the hands of those who felt the survivors of the Holocaust were “damaged goods.”
Today, Leipciger is a married man of 60 years with children and grandchildren. He attended university in Canada, and graduated with a degree in Engineering. Though he still has traumatic hauntings of his dark past, Leipciger looks hopefully to the future.
“I’m very happy to see there are people from all ethnic groups, all colours, and different ethnicities [here],” said Leipciger of his audience. “You can make this world better by reaching out to those who are less advantageous.”