80 Auschwitz survivors film life lessons to mark 80 years since liberation

When Auschwitz survivor Aron Krell’s brother Zvi was dying in the Lodz ghetto in 1944, the boy left his family with the final words, “Please never forget me.”

Before the Holocaust, Zvi Krell was a wiry soccer player. But after the Nazis confined the Jews of Lodz to a ghetto, Zvi succumbed to starvation. His brother Aron and the rest of the family were then deported to Auschwitz.

“I lost not only Zvi, but my brother Moshe and my mother, Esther, in the Holocaust. I survived five concentration camps and ghettos — including Auschwitz,” said Aron Krell.

Eighty years after the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27, 1945, Krell is one of 80 survivors who shared life lessons for a social media campaign produced by the Claims Conference. Clips from the survivors will be featured on TikTok and Instagram for two weeks leading up to International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27.

Titled “I Survived Auschwitz: Remember This,” the campaign was inspired by Krell’s commitment to fulfill his brother’s dying wish, according to the Claims Conference.

more...