Bearing witness to survivor’s testimony
Every year, as part of an annual dedication to remembrance and memorialization in November, Hillel Guelph organizes several events for Holocaust Education Week. On Nov. 10, Hillel Guelph invited Holocaust survivor Bill Glied to the University of Guelph campus to speak about his personal survivor testimony.
The event began with two members of Hillel Guelph singing “Eli Eli,” a song of resistance composed by Hannah Szenes, a young Hungarian Jew executed by Nazis for her work in rescuing fellow Hungarian Jews before deportation to Auschwitz. Following a brief introduction, Glied took the stage to tell his story of survival.
At 86 years old, Glied views it as his life’s duty to give testimony as often and to as many people as he can. Among the last living survivors of the Holocaust, he prefaced his story by naming the Holocaust “the worst crime ever committed on the face of the Earth.” Glied views giving testimony—especially to young people—as an obligation, as a way of ensuring that the magnitude of cruelty of the Holocaust never happens again.
“There’s a responsibility on young people,” Glied explained. “You must make a commitment to yourself to do the right thing.”
With conviction, Glied told the audience that just listening to his story was an incredible act.
In 2015, Glied was invited by the Government of Germany to testify against and bear witness to the trial of the last two Nazi officers, Oskar Groening and Reinhold Hanning. For Glied, the trials are especially significant because they show that the German government and people actively rebut Holocaust deniers; the trial itself is the government of Germany actively saying, “This happened, here is the proof.”
Born in Subotica of the former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, to a family of middle-class Jews, Glied, along with his mother, father, and younger sister, were forcibly evicted from their homes and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944. Glied was only 13 years old when he and his father were separated from his mother and sister. After traveling by cattle car for two days and two nights without food, water, or proper sanitation, Glied and the others were suddenly forced from the car, and in the ensuing chaos, they were separated.
“We never saw them again. Never said goodbye,” said Glied, explaining that the loss of his family, especially under such horrendous circumstances, remains as painful as the day it happened. Of his immediate family of four, he was the only one who survived the Holocaust.
Glied attributes his survival to two things: hope and his father.His father protected him every day until his death only nine days before liberation. As well as physically protecting him, his father often gave Glied his bread ration, claiming to be full. This was a significant act, Glied explained, as the prisoners received only a bowl of weak soup, a cup of black coffee, and a piece of bread to eat each day. The horrors of his experience haunt him to this day; he often has vivid nightmares and finds the museum and flowers of Auschwitz upsetting.
Following his story, Glied shared his personal philosophy with the audience: “When you come out of this room, kiss the ground you walk on, you are lucky to be here. Do the right thing. Hug your friends, kiss your mom and dad. Do one good thing every day.”
Glied cited the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam, of repairing the world through kindness. Despite what he experienced, Glied clarified that he believes humans are inherently good, and that laughter has an unbelievable capacity for healing. Throughout his testimony, sniffles and stifled sobs reverberated across the audience. But, so too, did laughter.
During the question and answer period, many audience members thanked Glied for allowing them to bear witness to his story, for his courage and graciousness, before asking their question. Before a standing ovation at the end of his talk, Glied ended on a poignant note, as he was asked by an audience member about his faith and his belief in God. Glied paused. Smiling wryly, he said, “God and I have an argument that we haven’t settled yet.”
Photo by Heather Gilmore.