Holocaust survivors recall lost loved ones on Yom Hashoah

Sam Weinreb came home from a bar mitzvah to find his family gone. He traveled to Hungary,… Sam Weinreb came home from a bar mitzvah to find his family gone. He traveled to Hungary, wandered in Budapest by himself and was detained by the police after going to them for help. He was sent to Auschwitz and after surviving its horrors, walked mile after mile emaciated and starving.

Time and time again Weinreb was separated from family and relatives, and watched them disappear without a trace. After running away from the march to Auschwitz, he was eventually sent to the United States. He was not yet 16 years old.

Weinreb and other Holocaust survivors shared their stories on Tuesday night for the Holocaust Remembrance Day, each lighting a candle for family members they lost. Many spoke with thick accents and represented various European countries, including Poland, Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia. The survivors told of their Holocaust experiences, ranging from fleeing Europe to surviving the ghettos and the concentration camps.