Photo By Sgt. Scott Akanewich | Maj. Jakara Cruz-Osorio, Headquarters, Headquarters Detachment, 79th Sustainment...... read more read more
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LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. - As a young girl in her native Poland in 1939, Dorothy Greenstein’s 8-year-old world was torn apart. Nazi Germany had invaded her homeland and began to wreak havoc amongst her and her countrymen and women at the outset of World War II. Worse yet, she and her family were Jewish, which made them targets of the Germans under Hitler’s command.
So, she did what any scared, young child would do.
She hid – anyplace she could find – basements, cellars, attics, closets, outhouses, barns, fields, forests and countless other places over the next four years that would ultimately keep her from falling at the hand of Nazi oppression, as did millions of Jews during the horror of the Holocaust.
Greenstein’s story was not read from a book or portrayed in a movie, but was told by the woman herself during the 79th Sustainment Support Command’s Holocaust Remembrance Day Observance at Joint Forces Training Base Los Alamitos, Calif. April 11.
Greenstein, 81, described to the audience of Soldiers and civilians in chilling, accurate detail the trials and tribulations she and her older sister Rachel, endured during this most horrific of times over 70 years ago as if they had happened yesterday.
“It was Sept. 1, 1939, and I was supposed to get up and go to school like any other ordinary day,” said Greenstein. “Suddenly, I was in the street and saw the German soldiers marching in. I was very scared because I knew there were there to get all the Jews.”
Initially, ignorance was bliss for Greenstein, she said.
“As a child, I didn’t understand the scope of it all and I didn’t want to know what was going on,” she said. “We had no idea of all the killing that would take place.”
Greenstein’s father was always a calming influence for the entire family, she said.
“Every time the Germans came through and demanded we give up certain goods to them such as fur coats and leather clothing and shoes, he would say, ‘We don’t really need these things. What else can they do?’” said Greenstein.
Unfortunately and tragically, history tells us what else the Nazis could and did do, which bore itself out when her mother and father were taken away to a ghetto.
“My father told me, ‘You are the only one who can save the family,’” said Greenstein. “This is when I realized it was important for me to escape to the Polish side. I still remember to this day, seeing the German soldiers lined up near the trains they were loading all the Jews onto. My father saw me and said, ‘What are you doing here? Go to Rachel.’” said Greenstein. “So, I turned around and ran away – it was the last time I ever saw my parents.”
However, Greenstein had something going for her that would help her evade the Nazis time and again – her appearance.
“I had blonde hair and blue eyes, so I looked Polish,” she said.
It didn’t take long for this blessing to manifest itself, said Greenstein.
“As I was running away trying to escape, a German soldier actually helped me over a fence to safety,” she said. “If he had known I was a Jew, he would have killed me.”
So began her four-year ordeal of being a fugitive in her own country, running and hiding for her life, day in and day out.
One of the audience members amongst those gathered on this day was Staff Sgt. John Salgado, Headquarters, Headquarters Detachment, 79th SSC, maintenance non-commissioned officer-in-charge, who was even more captivated by this story of personal courage than most, for he had coordinated the event. In the process of planning, he had researched the Holocaust extensively and Greenstein’s heroics, in particular.
“I first received a four-page e-mail from Ms. Greenstein that absolutely mesmerized me,” said Salgado. “I had read about the Holocaust and learned about it in high school like everyone else, but getting to meet someone who had actually been through it was something else altogether.”
According to Salgado, what struck him most was the inspirational manner in which Greenstein told her story, he said.
“What really got me was she had nothing bad to say about the entire experience,” said Salgado. “She turned a negative into a positive.”
At this point, it became more than just planning another event, said Salgado.
“Once I read her bio, I was honored to meet her,” he said. “It really got me to open my eyes about history and see life a little differently.”
Eventually, by the end of the war, Greenstein was re-united with her sister, as well as one of her brothers.
Throughout her presentation, Greenstein credited “angels” for getting her out of some sticky situations and believes it was her faith that ultimately helped carry her through, she said.
“Every time I prayed, something good happened,” said Greenstein. “Finally, we went home.”
| Date Taken: | 04.12.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 04.12.2012 19:38 |
| Story ID: | 86683 |
| Location: | LOS ALAMITOS, CA, US |
| Web Views: | 317 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fleeing from tyranny, Holocaust survivor tells inspirational story during Observance, by SGT Scott Akanewich, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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