Photo By Sgt. Aaron Berogan | Frank Stern, right, Holocaust survivor, speaks with Army Reserve soldiers following a...... read more read more
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Army Reserve soldiers from the 85th Support Command’s Equal Opportunity office, conducted a Holocaust observance during the unit’s battle assembly weekend training with a guest speaker who survived ‘Nazi Germany’.
Franz “Frank” Stern was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany where he and his family lived during Kristallnacht, also known as “Night of Broken Glass”.
According to Stern, the Kristallnacht took place on Nov. 9 and 10, 1938, where Nazis in Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses - and killed close to 100 Jewish people. The aftereffects of Kristallnacht led to the arrest of some 30,000 Jewish men who were sent off to Nazi concentration camps.
Stern discussed his family’s personal experiences during the Kristallnacht and his life following there. Due to the fact that they did not have a radio, nor reside in a Jewish neighborhood, they did not know it was initially happening until the following day when Stern, then 9, left for school.
“When I hear about people getting worried about kids taking public transportation, I remind them (about myself) as a little Jewish kid in Nazi Germany. I took public transportation twice a day, five days a week…” said Stern.
Stern shared a story, as a 9-year old boy, when Gestapo agents arrived to his home searching to take his father and stepbrother. Early on, there was some “civility” Stern explained when discussing his father being found ill there at their home. His father was allowed to remain at home, for the time, providing that a medical certificate was sent to the Gestapo that same day. Stern’s stepbrother’s father was Swiss and foreign nationals could not be touched according to Stern; so this turned to their favor in no one being taken away from their home.
In 1939, the Stern family immigrated to the United States via Switzerland, and England.
In his uprooting, Stern emphasized his struggle learning the English language.
“When you don’t speak the language, and they don’t speak your language, you learn their language very, very quickly,” said Stern. “It becomes a matter of survival.”
Stern arrived to the United States in 1940 through Kentucky before settling in New York.
He attended school in New York and joined the Army National Guard while in college. He was assigned to the 102nd Combat Engineer Battalion, based in Manhattan; he served with the unit from 1948 until he was discharged in 1956 as a sergeant first class.
Following the presentation, soldiers in attendance received the opportunity to take a look at Stern’s family passports, and visas, which were marked with a red “J” as a way to identify Jewish persons then.
A requirement by the Nazis, Stern explained, was that all Jewish males had to receive the middle name “Israel” which was noted on his passport. Also among the family’s historical documents was an award to Stern’s father, that he received in 1935 signed on behalf of the Fuehrer and Chancellor, for soldiers who served in World War I in the “Kaiser’s army” on the Romanian front.
In conclusion of the presentation, Brig. Gen. Frederick R. Maiocco Jr., commanding general, 85th Support Command, shared remarks to the command about Stern’s insight.
“I really appreciated Mr. Stern and his recollections… I was personally moved because my family was directly affected with my grandparents leaving Italy, to come to this country, to flee that kind of persecution,” said Maiocco. “Mr. Stern was a tremendous inspiration for me… and a great help to us in terms of our recognition of treating people with dignity and respect, and the imperative of tolerance for support for disaffected peoples across the globe.”
Stern is now a retiree who spends his time giving tours at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, as well as speaking to schools and various outreach programs for the museum.
| Date Taken: | 04.11.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 04.20.2015 15:57 |
| Story ID: | 160582 |
| Location: | ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL, US |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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