By Jacqueline Hlavenka
Nearly 69 years ago in Germany, Rachel Gleitman woke up to the smell of ash and burning flesh from factories outside her window. She slept packed in barracks with 22 other people in one room, eating nothing but one bowl of watery soup per day, and wearing only one piece of tattered clothing. Gleitman, now 83, is a Holocaust survivor, and she feels that educating the public about the horrors she endured is the best lesson for young people.
“Since I am a survivor, it is my duty to tell what happened,” Gleitman said.
Gleitman, who appeared in the award-winning documentary film “Paper Clip,” spoke to members of Hofstra Hillel on Wednesday evening in the Student Center, coupled with a kosher dinner. Her speech commemorated the anniversary of Kristallnacht, translating to “the night of broken glass,” in German, the phrase refers to a night of rioting and destruction. In 1938, organized anti-Jewish riots on Nov. 9 and 10 included the destruction of Jewish-owned businesses, homes and synagogues, blanketing the streets with broken glass.
“It was a war zone. You couldn’t go out at night because someone would shoot you,” Gleitman said. “If you hear the word ghetto, it does not apply to the ghetto I know. You had no privacy.”
Gleitman grew up in Munkacs, a town in Czechoslovakia (now Slovakia) with her brothers, David and Irving, and her sister, Judy. Gleitman remembered seeing the neighborhood shops being destroyed right in front of her eyes-all because of prejudice.
“People could not practice anymore or own a business,” she said. “Life came to a stop.”
Gleitman was later sent to Auschwitz with her family. She witnessed people being harassed and beaten, starving to death and dropping dead after working in the sun for hours on end.
However, she was one of the lucky ones.
Gleitman’s life was spared, along with her mother and aunt, inside a gas chamber. The machine malfunctioned, and the gas never came out.
“When I think about it, I get this feeling like things are crawling on me,” she said, moving her hands up and down her sleeves. After that statement, Gleitman took a moment of silence and reflected.
Today, Gleitman is an active member of a Jewish Community Center and shares a family-like bond with the women in the club.
“This is the last of the generation to speak live about the Holocaust,” said Eric Barenholtz, president of Hofstra Hillel. “To understand prejudice, you have to hear it from someone who experienced it.”