This morning we were privileged to hear Tom Glaser recount his parent's story of surviving the Holocaust.Rotarian Tom Glaser: his family’s experience during the Holocaust.
Guests were Gerry Barker.
May 15 is the first day of the Little League snack shack. The volunteer calendar is full!!
May 6 is Green Up Day, bags can be picked up at the town offices.
May 6 is also the first RaceVermont day. Volunteers: Chris, Keith, John P, Jon L, Annette and Charlie.
April 28-30 is the District Meeting at Jay Peak. Please plan to attend.
The Farmer’s Market starts in May. Dave is working on our nonprofit list for the summer and we need a coordinator for tent set up and take down.
Plans for a Spinathon Rotary fundraiser are still underway at The Shelburne Athletic Club.
The letter campaign has raised $4,600 so far.
Diana introduced Tom Glaser who will share the story of his family during the holocaust. Tom attended UVM and is a retired car dealership owner.
Tom shared a brief history of the rise of Adolph Hitler. Czechoslovakia’s Jewish population comprised 3% of its population. In 1939, Germany occupied Czechoslovakia. His parents decided to marry that same year because of the occupation, because “families could hopefully stay together.” His father and uncle began smuggling money and valuables, until they were caught and imprisoned. They were released but the German occupation and suppression was just beginning.
They were imprisoned to the Lodz Ghetto for three years and then transferred to Auschwitz. These ghettos were just that and the conditions were harsh and fenced, but the camps were prisons. Here they endured torture, beatings, and starvation. His mother was eventually sent to a work camp and was released back to Prague on May 8, 1945.
His father was not so fortunate and spent time in nine different camps enduring brutal conditions, treatment and starvation. A three-day train ride brought him to Dachau in southern Germany where he spent the rest of 1945 working in labor camps. He also endured the death of many of his co prisoners and was often required to bury them. He buried 256 of his fellow prisoners.
Finally, he left Dachau with all the prisoners and were marched sixty miles to a destination where American soldiers liberated them on April 30, 1945. He and his wife were reunited shortly thereafter.
In 1948, the Czech communist party came into power and his parents decided to immigrate to the United States.
Dan presented Tom with the book “Don’t Ask My Name” by Erika Hecht which will be donated to The Carpenter Carse Library in Hinesburg in Tom’s name.