HOUSTON — Holocaust survivors and American liberators know the horrors of hatred, prejudice and apathy. Nearly 74 years after WWII, this dwindling generation is witnessing the tragedy’s in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas that are fueled by the same feelings they fought against.
Over lunch, survivors and liberators reflected on their own experiences and two mass shootings that killed 31 people over the weekend.
“The most frustrating this is after the holocaust the motto was never again,” said Dr. Anna Steinberger.
Steinberger was born in Kazakhstan. She was just a girl when American soldiers like Bill Kongable stormed Nazi camps and saved the world.
“I just knew they were friends of ours and they were just like everybody else,” Kongable said.
Kongable was drafted in 1944. After training at Fort Sill, Okla., his division went to Europe and was assigned to crossing the Rhine River. The mission was supposed to be a surprise to the Germans. However, they were ready.
“Machine gun and 20mm right at water level and just massacred our guys,” Kongable said.
Kongable fought through and made it past the river. His service was meritorious, but it’s what his division discovered after the battle that found him a seat at lunch Tuesday.
“Ohrdruf, which was the first concentration camp liberated in World War II,” Kongable said.
Other survivors like Bill Orlin, who later joined the U.S. Army, offered solutions.
“We all have to live as people,” Orlin said. “We’re all Americans and we need to pull together.”
Each survivor and liberator admits there's no one answer to stopping the tragedies America faces today, but they say coming together to do the right thing is the first step we all need to take.
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