JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. –
A glimmer of hope in their dimly-lit world, Jewish prisoners eagerly prepared for a long-overdue shower. Little did they know, the chamber would not bathe them with water, but with toxic gas.
One of the last survivors of the Holocaust Henry Greenbaum accepted an invitation to share his story of despair and resiliency at The Club at Andrews here April 9, as Team Andrews recognized National Holocaust Week.
"Mr. Greenbaum's story shows people face adversity in unexpected ways," said Capt. Karen Hinkle, Andrews Holocaust Rememberance event coordinator. "We all face troubles, our hope is that his story will encourage Airman to perservere and see the light at the end of the tunnel."
Greenbaum was born April 1, 1928, in Starachowice, Poland, among eight siblings. His father, Nuchem, ran a tailor shop out of their home while his mother, Gittel, raised the children.
"I had a generally happy childhood," said Greenbaum. "I went to Hebrew school, played soccer frequently and lived in a home only four doors down from my local synagogue."
The family would be forever changed by World War II.
Greenbaum's father died two months before World War II broke out. In 1940, after the Nazis occupied Poland, the majority of local Jewish population was corralled into a "ghetto." Greenbaum was put to work assembling munitions in a factory.
"It was very dirty, no soap and the pump only put out cold water," said Greenbaum as he described the unsanitary conditions of the ghettos. "Many of the neighborhood's residents had lice."
Under Nazi occupation, Polish Jews were forced to wear the Star of David on their person, or face a beating from Nazi soldiers. Scarcity and fear became their new way of life as the Nazis limited their resources and quality of life.
"There was such a lack of food available to the rounded-up Jewish people, the women had to trade their jewelry or other personal belongings with the guards just to get pieces of bread," said Greenbaum.
These living conditions were bad, but nothing compared to the horror they would come to know, he added.
Greenbaum was packed into a freight train with other prisoners and moved from the ghetto to a camp near Treblinka, to experience the horror of a labor camp himself.
"At Treblinka, the prisoners did what the guards ordered them to do or were whipped," said Greenbaum. It was at this camp where his mother, two of his sisters and their children were executed in a gas chamber.
Once in camp, in addition to losing their freedom, prisoners were forced to exchange anything of value, including their clothes and jewelry in return for small blankets and old, unwashed clothes. They were shown to their cramped barracks, where three people shared one bunk -- which was a wooden shelf attached to the wall, said Greenbaum.
"Horrible living conditions led to decayed health and even an epidemic," he said. Typhoid fever swept through the camp, taking the lives of his sisters, Chaja and Yita.
No matter how awful the situation, prisoners were still expected to follow orders. Every morning there was a roll-call and those who didn't show up were shot in the barracks, which happened on more than one occasion since typhoid fever made it difficult for some prisoners to even get out of bed, said Greenbaum.
In 1943, Greenbaum and his sister Faige attempted an escape. When Nazi guards discovered them, they shot and killed Faige and nearly killed Greenbaum as well -- the bullet grazed his head.
Despite the hardships of losing his family and being held prisoner, Greenbaum displayed great resiliency through his will to live and mental fortitude against seemingly insurmountable odds.
In 1944, at the age of 15, Greenbaum was taken to Auschwitz and incarcerated in the Buna-Monowitz labor subcamp where he was stripped of his identity completely.
"At Auschwitz, I was given my tattoo, A18991, signifying that I no longer had a name, but was to be recognized only by my number," said Greenbaum.
He was once again stripped of his belongings, which by this point was only the clothes he wore, and given his striped uniform and a small blanket he used as a pillow.
To make matters worse, he was forced to work at I.G. Farben, a German chemical industry conglomerate producing chemicals used to euthanize the imprisoned populace.
"Every night I prayed to God and I cried myself to sleep," said Greenbaum.
Greenbaum was in Auschwitz for four months when he encountered British soldiers who told him the prisoners will be saved and to be patient. They warned Greenbaum that bomber planes would be hitting the camp and when that happens, to duck in the sand to avoid the blasts.
Allied air forces soon began bombing the camps, trains, locomotives and rail system. Rather than setting their prisoners free, the Nazi soldiers marched them to their next camp.
As a result of the bombings and the Soviet army nearing Auschwitz, Greenbaum and his fellow prisoners were marched to Flossenburg, a concentration camp bordering Czechoslovakia. A few months later, when the American forces neared Flossenburg, the prisoners were next marched toward Dachau.
As Allied forces moved closer into Axis territory and the prisoners were running on their last fumes of hope, something incredible appeared like a mirage before them, Greenbaum explained. They were liberated at Neunberg vorm Wald on April 25, 1945, by U.S. soldiers from the 11th Armored Division.
"A tank rolled up to us and a skinny little soldier popped his head out of the tank," said Greenbaum. "He came up to us, put his hand to his face and said, 'We are Americans and you are free.'"
"I was 17 and weighed 75 pounds," said Greenbaum. "American soldiers were the kindest guys in the world, they would give you the shirts off of their backs. God bless you, I have much respect for you, thank you for saving my life."
After liberation, with the help of his cousin who cared for him after he was shot, Greenbaum was reunited with his brother Zachary, who was imprisoned in the Vilna ghetto.
The brothers sent a telegram to their sister Dina in the U.S., letting her know they survived and settled at the Zeilsheim displaced persons camp near Frankfurt, Germany, until she was able to arrange for their immigration. In the summer of 1946, the brothers arrived in New York, where they met their brother David, and eventually reunited with the rest of their family.
Of the Greenbaum family, only the three sons and their sister Dina survived the Holocaust. Greenbaum and his late wife, Shirley, settled in Bethesda, Md. They have four children, 12 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Today, Greenbaum volunteers at the National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Southwest Washington, D.C., where he shares his story and message of hope with visitors.
Greenbaum said, "Perservere, have the will to live, do not give up. If you give in, then you lose yourself. You've got to have faith in God."