David Abrams was born in Dej, Romania on December 8, 1928. He was the son of a baker and a stepmother, both of which he adored deeply. David also had 4 older sisters and 3 younger brothers. The Abrams family, whose real last name was Abraham, were a traditional Jewish family. Their week consisted of typical preperations in order to prepare for the Sabbath on Sunday. His family was taken to a ghetto that was set up in a wooded area and each family was allowed to set up a shelter in a 10x12 ft area. They had to share very small amounts of food with large numbers of people. By this time David's father had passed away and he said that his mother thanked God for letting his father not be able to see them like that. After a month in the ghetto, the family was taken to Auschwitz. He explained that him and his family were told that they were going to be taken to a place away from the gentiles (non Jewish people), where they could have jobs and would be able to be with their families. The Germans gave these innocent people false hope and made their fates seem no so tragic. When they arrived, all of the abled bodies were moved to the left and all of the elderly, women, and children were moved to the right. The people who were in the right line were all taken to be killed. David said that that was the last time he saw his family. He furthered explained that upon arriving at the camps the people were stripped naked and searched, in all areas of their bodies, for hidden objects. They were then shaved from head to foot, given a shower, and given prison clothes. The prisoners were taken to their barraks, which Abrams thought was a luxury hotel compared to the conditions of the ghetto, and were forced to share 1 plate of food with 5-6 people. Throughout his time here, he said that each day people were randomly chosen out of a line up and taken to be killed off. His stay did not last long and he was eventually taken to Modhousen where he was assigned a work detail. While at Modhousen they were given the numbers that they had to wear on their uniforms; this was the way that they were identified as opposed to being called by name. Abrams was again moved to a camp called Gouzen. Throughout the testimony, Abrams constantly mentioned that God willed him to survive. While in this camp he watched many children die and witnessed people being treated as though they were nothing but animals. Eventually the camps were liberated and, with some time and struggles, Abrams was able to make it back to his home. He constantly searched for family members that survived but only knew of the sisters that had immigrated years before the war. He finally made it to the US in 1949, where he joined the army and was deployed to Korea. Abrams met his wife in 1954 and they later had 2 daughters. He said that he never talked about his experiences in the camps. He also said that although he never spoke about the events, they always filled the spaces of his mind. Abrams said there were 2 life lessons that he will carry with him forever: 1.) Hope. the fact that he never gave up hope made up 50% of his survival. 2.) Gratitude. While in the camps he continuously gave thanks for God enabling him to survive one more day and he knew that God had good things in store for him eventually. Although David Abrams had to endure a nightmare, he has still managed to find happiness and peace in his life.
Quotes: "They shipped us off to Auschwitz to be disposed of as though we were nothing more than some contaminated waste."
" By the grace of God...I managed to survive the most brutal, the most cruel, the most inhumane treatment of human beings in the history of our planet."
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