Auschwitz survivor hopes 70th anniversary promotes peace

When you’re 13 years old, the biggest worry in life should be sports, popularity, or a middle school crush.

David Bram had to focus on survival.

“We didn’t know what was waiting for us,” Bram, an Auschwitz survivor said. “I could see the destruction of human beings were very rapidly done.”

He was at the camp in Auschwitz for six months, before being transferred to another camp in Austria.

He saw thousands of people killed, told they were going in for a shower before they were gassed.

Every day, he expected the worst.

“We realized that our lives were very limited in time for life. Because we were told we’re not going to survive,” he said.

A feeling he re-lives, every time he looks at his wrist, recalling the days when he was just a number. To the Nazis, he had no name and no identity.

“My belief is to teach people the valuable of freedom, of being a good human being. Not to hate, because hate is very destructive,” he said.

After his time in Auschwitz, he went to Austria, where he remained until the end of World War II in 1945.

He spent two more years in Austria before being granted U.S. citizenship, then he was drafted into the Army where he served another three years.

A pattern in his life is a constant sense of new beginnings.

“I have to start a new life with new hope, a place where you can develop your own personal way of life.

But as the years pass, there are fewer survivors like Bram left. That is why he tells his story.

“The past has taught us a lot of lessons, but nevertheless, the past cannot dictate my future,” he said.