As I’ve written before, I think that the frum communities often show a lack of appreciation for what we have here in this country. The freedoms and rights granted to Jewish people in this country are unprecedented and for what the Americans did for us during World War 2, this is something that many of us can never repay.
During this Memorial Day when we remember the fallen soldiers of this country I think it’s important to take note, as a Jew, and be thankful for what these soldiers gave their lives for.
How many of us would not be here today had the American soldiers not fought to defeat the Germans. How many of our grandfathers and grandmothers would have never been liberated if the Americans would not gave their lives fighting this war.
Just for a measure of note, I don’t want to leave out the important role the Russians played in liberation, but since I’m speaking as an American on an American Holiday this is where this post leads us to.
I’d like to share this link and story with you that I found this morning. Please read on.
The following is a quote from Andrew Rosner on the occasion of a 50th anniversary celebration of the liberation of the Ohrdruf camp, held on 23 April 1995 at Wichita, Kansas:
“At the age of 23, I was barely alive as we began the death march eastward. All around me, I heard the sound of thunder - really the sound of heavy artillery and machinery. I looked for any opportunity to drop out of the march. But, any man who fell behind or to the side was shot instantly by the Nazis. So, I marched on in my delirium and as night fell, I threw myself off into the side of the road and into a clump of trees. I lay there — waiting — and waiting — and suddenly nothing! No more Nazis shouting orders. No more marching feet. No more people. Alone. All alone and alive — although barely.
I moved farther into the woods when I realized I was not really left behind. I slept for awhile as the darkness of night shielded me from the eyes of men. But, as the light of dawn broke, I heard shooting all around me. I played dead as men ran over me, stumbling over me as they went. I lay there as bullets passed by me and Nazis fell all around me. Then all was quiet. The battle was over. I waited for hours before I dared to move. I got up and saw dead German soldiers laying everywhere. I made my way back toward the road and started walking in the direction of a small village, which I could see in the distance. As I approached the village two Germans appeared. One raised his gun toward me and asked what I was doing there. I told him I was lost from the evacuation march. He told me that I must have escaped and I knew he was about to shoot me when the other German told him to let me be. It would not serve them well to harm me now. They allowed me to walk away and as I did, I said a final prayer knowing that a bullet in the back would now find me for sure. It never did!
In the small village I was told to go farther down the road to the town of Ohrdruf from where I had come three days before. There, I would find the Americans. And so I did.
As I entered the outskirts of the town of Ohrdruf two American soldiers met me and escorted me into town. I was immediately surrounded by Americans and as their officers questioned where I had been and what had happened to me, GIs were showering me with food and chocolate and other treats that I had not known for almost five years.
You were all so kind and so compassionate. But, my years in the camps, my weakened state of health, the forced death march, and my escape to freedom was more than a human body could bear any longer and I collapsed into the arms of you, my rescuing angels.”
(source)
