Many people believe that every victim of the Holocaust was tattooed and cataloged, but the reality is, the vast majority remain nameless and faceless. Their identities will never be known as they were led out of cattle cars directly to their death in gas chambers. My mother’s father Juda Leib Windman, and her grandfather Luzer Israel Windman were two men who made it past the initial selection process.
Luzer only lived 4 days after arriving in Auschwitz and being sent to the infamous Block 11 on October 25 1941.
Juda Leib lived for 483 days after his arrest in Paris France on May 15, 1941 until his murder on September 8, 1942.
The only survivor was Juda Leib’s brother, Wolf Windman, who went on and was instrumental in creating the Holocaust Memorial in Miami Beach, Florida.
All other relatives are believed to have perished.
Perla Wajsman, my grandmother, lived until she was 91, letting us never forget her story. Perla lost all but one of her 6 siblings, both parents, and all extended family.
Jacquline Schupper, my mother, lived to the age of 74. The emptiness that she felt was never truly gone, but she spread joy to the ones closest to her.
We keep our story alive today with George Santayana’s quote in our minds. “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
We want to thank everybody who followed along with our journey. We are proud to tell our story and honored that there are people who care deeply enough to listen to us tell it. We want to thank the people from Beaufay, France for welcoming us with open arms and we want to thank Witek our driver/guide for being such a valuable resource in Poland. None of this possible without them.