When the Russian army finally liberated Al Wiener from the concentration camps in 1945, he had no one to go home to.
His father was dead. So were his stepmother and his two brothers. Out of an extended family that had once included 124 people, he was the only one left. They had all been killed by the German army — and their only “crime” was being Jewish.
Today, Wiener will visit Eugene to tell students and community members about his experience as a Holocaust survivor. His speech, which is part of Holocaust Remembrance Week, will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the Hillel House, located at 1059 Hilyard St.
Jewish Student Union Program Director Jessica Elkan said the group is fortunate that Wiener was able to fit a visit to the University into his tight schedule.
“We’re really excited he’s coming down on such short notice,” she said.
Wiener survived the Holocaust, but just barely. After spending nearly three years in five different concentration camps, he was weak, emaciated, and on the verge of death. He weighed just 80 pounds, and his body had deteriorated so badly that doctors told him he would be dead within two years.
But two years passed and Wiener was still alive, and 54 years later, he is still here to remind people that the horrors of the Holocaust were real.
“There are people today who have the audacity to deny the existence of the Holocaust when I am still here,” Wiener said. “And it hurts.”
Despite the terrible things he has seen, Wiener said he has not lost his faith in humanity. Often, he said, people ask him why he doesn’t hate the German people. When they ask, Wiener said he tells them a story about a sandwich.
It happened while he was in a concentration camp, working to dismantle a textile factory. The goal was to turn it into an ammunitions factory, but in order to maximize efficiency, the Germans kept the women working in the factory while it was being destroyed.
All over the factory, signs were posted warning the German women workers to stay away from the prisoners, Wiener said. They weren’t even allowed to look at them.
But one day, Wiener said, one of the German women caught his eye and discreetly offered him a sandwich. He said it is hard to convey to people who haven’t lived through the Holocaust what that sandwich meant to him at the time.
That simple gesture, a life-risking move on the part of the woman, showed him that even among the Germans, there were still people who cared.
Wiener said through it all, he has never learned to hate. Instead, he said, he has held on to the values his family instilled in him as a child.
“I was brought up to love,” Wiener said. “I have no hatred in me.”
Junior Shayna Kent, who has heard several Holocaust survivors speak, said she encourages students to attend the event. To hear a survivor’s story firsthand is much different than watching media coverage about the Holocaust, she said.
“When you hear a Holocaust survivor speak, it’s real, it’s true,” Kent said. “They lived it, they breathed it.”