VICENZA, Italy-- Bathed in light streaming through the stained glass of Caserma Ederle's chapel April 25, an elderly, seemingly frail man silently prepares himself to tell his story one more time. But this man is anything but frail, as the 50 or so people sitting in the wooden pews are about to find out. In a clear and resonant voice that belies his stature, Holocaust survivor Samuel Artale Von Belskoj Levy begins to tell his story of pain, anguish and, ultimately, redemption.
Artale's story begins in Rostock, Germany, where he was born in 1937. At age seven, under Hitler's anti-Semitic rule, he was deported to Auschwitz concentration camp. The date was April 13, 1944, and the young boy was shipped to Poland with his mother, father, sister, grandfather and aunt. It was there that his life changed forever.
Before being loaded onto cattle cars for transportation to Auschwitz, the family was separated, Artale said, with his mother taken away to another car. Upon arrival, his mother was immediately executed, and the young boy was assigned to a barracks apart from his family members. While at Auschwitz, Aratale said, he was told by "an older Jew in the camp" to "survive however you can." And he did.
"I was made a member of the Sonderkommando*," shared Artale. "Because I had small thin fingers, I was forced to use them to inspect the anal cavities of the dead for jewels and gold, and to remove gold from dental fillings."
Artale said he would always wonder what happened to his family and often dreamed about seeing them again. It wasn't until sometime later, when the camp was liberated by Red Army forces in January 1945, that he would realize he was the only one of his family to survive.
From then on, Artale's life would be "challenging," he said, as he was placed into the hands of a Jewish foster care association that moved him to Miami to begin life in an orphanage.
"Life there was horrible," said Artale. "They used to make fun of how skinny I was and ask me why. I would explain about Auschwitz, and no one would believe me. Not the children or the adults. No one would listen and they accused me of lying, so I stopped telling the story of my life there."
The survivor began to build a life for himself but said his, "anger, hatred and desire for revenge" drove him forward. He graduated from high school and college and became an engineer. But his life, he said, was filled with that hatred. It remained that way for many years until he joined the U.S. Army.
"I joined the Army and was stationed in Italy," he reminisced. "There, I was introduced to the sister of a friend. It was that sweet and sensitive girl who became my wife, and she turned my hatred into love."
Often halting in his speech as he was overcome with emotion, Artale eventually opened the floor for questions.
One question about the ability to forgive caused a moment of pause, and then he spoke loudly and clearly with deep thought and anguish in his answer.
"I have learned to forgive those horrible atrocities that I saw daily there. This was thanks to my beloved wife, who (died) 15 years ago," said Artale. "I have forgiven all except (one thing) ... But I have forgiven because of my wife, because I got from life something fantastic. But one thing I cannot pardon, I cannot forgive, is when my mother was divided from her children. I still now hope that she (did) not know what was happening and (that she didn't) have enough time to think that she could not help her children. This pain to my mother is difficult for me to forgive."
Artale continued to answer questions and, as he concluded his visit, left this thought. "For so long, I tried to erase the terrible memories. The pain is still strong. On November 1, when I go to the cemetery, I read the names on the graves and know that I cannot find any of my family killed in Auschwitz. Sometimes I doubt (my very existence). I feel like a tree without roots. "
However, Artale did not lose hope and trust in humanity.
"This is always thanks to my wife," he said.
* Sonderkommandos were work units made up of German Nazi death camp prisoners. They were composed of prisoners, usually Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber victims during the Holocaust.
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