FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. -- The Fort Leonard Wood and Maneuver Support Center of Excellence Holocaust Days of Remembrance ceremony, hosted by the 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade April 25, featured a special guest: Holocaust survivor Ben Fainer.
So, before the ceremony even began in Lincoln Hall Auditorium, one father wasted no time in introducing his daughters to Fainer, hoping to impress upon them the importance of the event.
"I just brought my girls because I know that Holocaust victims are proof of what happened," said Anthonie Seymour, who brought his daughters Kushaiah, 7, and Sharon, 5, to the ceremony.
"A lot of people try and say that there was no Holocaust, so I just wanted them to meet and to shake the hand of a victim, and to hear the story," Seymour said.
"Even though they are a little too young to understand all that, I want them to know that it was really important."
The theme of the ceremony was "Choosing to Act: Stories of Rescue."
To open the event, the names of several Holocaust victims and survivors were read -- including Fainer's -- while the 399th Army Band played.
Lt. Col. Gary Calese, acting commander for the 4th MEB, introduced Fainer by emphasizing why it is important to remember the tragic events that happened during the Nazi regime in World War II.
"You … can't pick and choose the history that you learn," he said. "If you only read about the triumphs and not the defeats, only the achievements of the human spirit and not its degradations, you will draw the wrong conclusions. Today, we spend a few moments understanding a dark chapter in human history, but within this context we will celebrate those who quietly resisted tyranny -- those who defined resilience in a way that we cannot fully comprehend in today's age."
In keeping with the theme, Fainer told the story of his experience as a forced laborer in Nazi concentration camps, and his rescue by Allied forces.
In 1939, when Fainer was nine years old, the German army attacked his hometown of Bedzin, Poland. He and his father were forced to march to a prison camp in Jelenin. Later on, Fainer was transferred to work in Buchenwald, Dachau and Flossenberg.
"The horror in Buchenwald was unbelievable," Fainer said. "If we got a meal a day … we were lucky. I believe I weighed somewhere in the neighborhood between 70 pounds and 65 pounds."
He recalled the terror of the camp's crematorium. "I saw guys being shoved into the oven, and they were alive," he said.
On April 23, 1945, American Soldiers in Company K, 26th Yankee Division, liberated his concentration camp in Cham, Germany.
To Fainer's surprise, more than 60 years later, he received a phone call from one of his liberators: 99-year-old Norris Nims, who had been a sergeant in that company. Nims had seen a story about Fainer in the newspaper.
"I was sitting in my home in West Palm Beach, Fla. … and the phone rang. I picked up the phone and a gentlemen says … 'I liberated you on the 23rd of April, 1945 at 10 o'clock in the morning in Cham, Germany in the pouring rain,'" Fainer said. "So, we got together and we talked about it ... I was in tears."
His meeting with Nims six years ago inspired Fainer to share his story with others.
During the ceremony, he showed a video of himself talking with Nims about their shared experience. Fainer now works with the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center.
Despite the losses he endured, including his mother and three siblings, Fainer still talks about the "good life" he has lived since World War II -- moving to Ireland and meeting his wife, and eventually emigrating to the United States.
"It was miraculous that I came out the way I did," Fainer said. "I'm very, very fortunate."
One ceremony attendee, April York, said that these remarks were most inspiring for her.
She said she was amazed to discover "Regardless of what an individual goes through, the forgiveness that they can find in their hearts."
The ceremony also helped York realize one of her lifelong goals -- to meet a Holocaust survivor.
"It was always on my bucket list," she said. "I think it's important that people understand our history and learn from it, and not hide from it. I have a lot of respect for him."
Having guests like Fainer is an ideal way to help the community remember the Holocaust, said Sgt. 1st Class Derrick Jordan, 4th MEB equal opportunity representative.
"As Mr. Fainer said, that is a very terrible tragedy that should never be repeated again and the only way to keep it fresh -- to keep it relevant to the Soldiers today -- is to have these observances and then have people like him -- while they're still alive -- come and tell their story," Jordan said.
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