Local Holocaust survivors speak out in wake of Virginia violence
Local Holocaust survivor Stan “Szymon” Ostern watched the violence in Virginia on television all weekend.
The retired doctor said the people carrying tiki torches and chanting, “Jews will not replace us,” reminded him of the Nazis.
He said many countries prohibit this kind of behavior.
“In Germany you can be arrested and get three years in jail, ” said Ostern from his Golota home.
Ostern was born in Stryj, Poland, which is now the Ukraine.
One of his earliest memories of the war is being hidden in a bunker beneath a house for two years.
“Hitler wiped out 6 million Jews, I am one of the survivors. I was hidden from 7 to 9,” said Ostern.
Most of his family members were killed in concentration camps.
His wife, artist Edith Tanner Ostern, escaped to Vienna after her father was taken to Dachau concentration camp.
She said camps in Germany are not looked at as monuments, they are put into context for visitors.
Edith Ostern believes there are better ways to exhibit confederate statues that serve as symbols of a time when slavery existed.
Edith Ostern said these generals, who will still be in history books, should not be worshipped in town squares.
Stan Ostern read a famous quote by fellow Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel; “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
Ostern is ready to protest and wonders what Jews did to the people who marched with the torches in Virginia.
He said what is happening in the United States has both touched and angered him.
He hopes people will speak out.
To learn more about Stan and Edith Ostern and their stories of survival visit the the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara’s website at jewishsantabarbara.org.
