Students Walk Through Tragedy With Holocaust Survivor

Holocaust survivor Andre Kessler holds up the identification card he had to carry as a boy in the 1940s during the persecution of Jews.
 

He Can't Even Visit A Cemetery

Unlike most people who lose loved ones, Andre Kessler cannot simply go to a cemetery to pay his respects. All of his relatives were put in the ovens, and their ashes thrown in the wind.

A Monster That Ate 4 Million Jews

Auschwitz-Birkenau, the concentration camp where 4 million Jews died. Kessler himself lost 120 family members-nearly 80 percent of his family-during what has become known as the Holocaust.
 

Fifth Graders Mesmerized

Kessler recounted his tale of Holocaust survival to a captivated audience of fifth- through eighth-graders at St. Thomas More School, Decatur. Middle school teacher Terry Collis, whose eighth-grade students had been studying the Holocaust, invited Kessler to speak.

His Father

His father was arrested in December 1942 and sent to a slave labor camp. A large man at 6 feet 4 inches and 246 pounds, Kessler's father returned from the camp in 1945 weighing only 132 pounds.

 

Kessler hide In His Room For Two Years

Kessler's mother, a Jew with her blonde hair and blue eyes,  refused to sew the Star of David onto their clothes. "That's where I spent almost two years of my life, with the windows darkened and blankets and sheets under the door to block the sound," he said.

During those years, Kessler lived on bowls of watery soup.

"I think I was five years old before I knew what a glass of milk was," he told the incredulous students.
 

Kessler Entire Family

His grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins were all sent to Auschwitz. The students reacted strongly when Kessler recounted the stories of his family members who were taken to Auschwitz in boxcars.

"My mother was one of six children; my father was one of 13," he said. "I should have lots of first cousins. Well, I don't."

 
 

Grandfather Brutally Killed

His grandfather and grandmother were put into separate boxcars, and when his grandfather vehemently protested, he was clubbed to death and his body was thrown into the boxcar with his wife.

A Daring Escape

In 1947, when Romania turned into a communist country, young Andre and his mother made a plan of escape. His father owned several factories that were nationalized, and he arranged for his wife and son to flee first to Hungary and then to Austria, escaping through gaps in the barbed wire fences that were on the countries' borders.

His Father Fought The Communists

In the meantime, Kessler's father planted bombs on timers and blew up his factories. He then left for France to join his two brothers. It would be 14 years before Kessler would see his father again.

In 1951 Kessler Comes To America

Kessler and his mother boarded "a very small troop ship" to NY, it was there he ran with the 'Gangs of New York'

He graduated from NYU in 1963 and was drafted by the Philadelphia Warriors.

"I know you have never heard of me, but I know you have heard of my roommate," he said. "He was a young man by the name of Wilt Chamberlain."

In 1965, Kessler married a Savannah woman. They have two adult children ages 23 and 25.

The Teacher Praised Kessler

Collis said that in hearing Kessler speak, her students gained an experience they could not fully learn in their textbooks.

"I think Mr. Kessler's visit helped the students connect to the reality of the horrors of the Holocaust," she said. "It (the Holocaust unit) was a unit they wanted to continue, and of course we could continue it for a whole year, but Mr. Kessler's visit was a culminating event for them in the study of the Holocaust unit."