5/3/14 - Students at Highlander Way Middle School in Howell sat in rapt attention Friday when a survivor of the World War II Nazi concentration camps recounted his harrowing experiences. Martin Lowenberg of Southfield, who is 86, told the eighth graders about his 12 years of imprisonment, abuse and near starvation in the death camps of Germany and Poland. As a boy of five living in Schellenberg, Germany, Lowenberg lived a happy life until his familyâs home was burned and looted as part of a campaign of hatred against the Jews by Hitlerâs Third Reich. Eventually, his family was shipped by train to Latvia, and from there to various concentration camps in Eastern Europe. He and two sisters, who also now live in the U.S., were the only family members to survive. His parents were killed, as were his 9-year-old twin brothers, who he said were used in various experiments by the notorious Dr. Josef Mengele. Lowenberg tells WHMI that people donât realize what a blessing it is to live in the United States, where there is complete freedom of speech and religion. Leah Craig, a 14-year-old Highlander Way 8th grader, tells WHMI that Lowenberg gave an important message about respecting other cultures, races and religions. It is estimated that 6 million Jews were exterminated as part of Hitlerâs âfinal solutionâ in World War II. However, not as well known is that 4-5 million Christians and other non-Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Lowenberg recommends that those interested in the Holocaust, and how a courageous people managed to survive its horrors, visit the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills. (TT)
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