On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, the world honors the 6 million Jews and millions of others exterminated by the Nazis and their accomplices.
A commemoration that takes place at a time when the world is witnessing an upsurge in anti-Semitism, the dissemination of dangerous Holocaust denial and misleading messages, and threats against minority groups.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whose father-in-law survived the Holocaust, shared his thoughts in a video message*. Other State Department and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) employees with survivors in their families point to the tragic experience of their loved ones as part of their commitment to service. audience.
Here are some of their testimonials.
Amy Gutmann, US Ambassador to Berlin
Kurt Gutmann, the father of current US Ambassador to Germany Amy Gutmann, was studying metallurgy in Nuremberg and living with a Christian family when Adolf Hitler came to power. When he saw members of his host family giving the Nazi salute to members of the Hitler Youth, he decided to flee Germany.
He left the country alone at the age of 23. He will then organize the flight of his entire family to the United States via India. A series of courageous acts thanks to which all his loved ones will escape the drama.
The ambassador says what happened to her father made her want to become a university professor and teach democracy. It also encouraged her to fight against all forms of discrimination.
“I often think of him when I meet Holocaust survivors, or when visiting memorials to those who were cruelly murdered, but also when I see the work that the United States and the world do together. Germany to maintain the memory of the Holocaust and prevent such atrocities in the future,” says Amy Gutmann.
Ory Abramowicz, from the United States Embassy in Panama
Ory Abramowicz’s grandparents survived the Holocaust, unlike many of their other family members.
His grandfather Theodore, “Teo”, Abramowicz was born in Poland in 1901 and moved to Paris in his youth. He worked there as a tailor, got married and had a son and a daughter.
In July 1942, the Abramowicz family was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp. The Nazis separated Teo and his son from his wife and their daughter. He will never see them again. One morning, when her son was seriously ill, the Nazis “selected” the boy for the gas chamber.
Teo was then transferred to the Buchenwald concentration camp, from where he managed to escape. He then lived hidden in a forest for several weeks, feeding on tree bark. An American military regiment will eventually find and rescue him. Back in Paris, he will lead an association of Holocaust survivors as well as a synagogue, and will remarry with another survivor.
Ory Abramowicz wanted a career in the Foreign Service and, in honor of his grandfather, he gave his son, Dov, the middle name of “Teo”.
“The memory of the millions of people murdered during the Holocaust pushes me to work every day for a better and fairer world,” says Ory Abramowicz.
Daniel Devries, from the US Embassy in Jerusalem
The Devries left Germany after their family business was attacked during Kristallnacht. They went to the Netherlands and lived in a refugee camp while waiting for their authorization to enter the United States, which did not arrive.
Soon after, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands and converted the site into a concentration camp. Moritz, Daniel Devries’ great-grandfather, was caught selling eggs in the refugee camp. As punishment, the Nazis put him and his wife Ella on a train bound for Auschwitz. They both died in a gas chamber in 1943.
Daniel’s father, Robert Devries, was eventually granted refugee status in 1946 and arrived at Ellis Island in New York when he was 24 years old. He didn’t know anyone and didn’t speak English. He settled in Detroit. Within a few years, he would get married, have two sons, be hired at an automobile manufacturing plant, and serve in the US Army during the Korean War.
“I hope that through public service, I can pay off some of my family’s debt to the country that has allowed us to prosper,” says Daniel Devries. My career allows me to promote the American values that made my grandfather’s new beginning and that of many others possible. »
Elizabeth Ramirez, de l’USAID
Elizabeth Ramirez’s paternal grandparents, Eli and Tilly Gewurz, left Frankfurt in 1933, after Adolf Hitler became chancellor. They saw no future for themselves in Germany, but struggled to convince other family members to leave the country.
The couple fled to Spain, encouraging Tilly’s parents to do the same. Later, they all applied for asylum in the United States. A cousin, Fred Baer, a lawyer in South Bend, Indiana, persuaded the town’s mayor to sponsor Jewish refugees. Master Baer will be appointed prosecutor for the Nuremberg trials against Nazi war criminals.
The family will have to wait four years before obtaining a visa that will allow them to settle in South Bend. There, Eli found work in a clothing store. Ms. Ramirez recently traveled to Germany to see the building where her grandparents lived. The story of their survival remains an inspiration to her.
“The memory I have of them and the uprooting they suffered, the courage they showed to start from scratch in a foreign country, made me want to pursue a career in public service by working in international level to combat instability and promote peace and tolerance within and among nations,” said Ms. Ramirez.
Find more testimonials from descendants of Holocaust survivors who work for the State Department.
*in English
