Survivor recounts the Holocaust to Rainy River district area residents/students

A Holocaust survivor is encouraging acceptance of others.

97-year-old Nate Leipciger (LYPE-see-gurr) is speaking about his experiences to school students and others.

The Polish-born Leipciger and his family were sent to concentration camps in 1943 when he was 15.

Only he and his father survived.

His father convinced Nazi guards to spare his son’s life, advocating that Nate’s apprenticeship as an electrician would be of use to them.

Leipciger and his father would end up in seven different concentration camps before being liberated by American soldiers.

“Every time we went from one concentration camp, we went through what was called a death march or a death train,” says Leipciger.

“We were transported without food, without water for days, and many people died just because of that. We were in the last (camp), I was at the very end of my energy, my body was depleted. I was a skeletal person.

A day before the Americans’ arrival, commanders were ordered to destroy the camp, but defied the order.

That day of freedom, Leipciger was in the infirmary and noted that soup for them was late in coming.

Someone came in to inform them that they were finally free.

“My father and I, we hugged and we danced, you know, for joy that we survived,” says Leipciger.

He compared the celebration to that of the Toronto Blue Jays after eliminating Seattle to advance to the World Series.

“And after the Canadians won, they were hugging each other, and they were laughing and they’re crying and they were laughing. That is the scenario that we experienced when the Americans came. Pure joy. But soon afterwards, we recognized that we may be the only ones that survived.”

The only other member of his family to survive was his brother, who had come to Canada in 1912.

His mother and sister had been previously killed while in Auschwitz, the first camp he was sent to.

Leipciger and his father remained in Germany after the war before immigrating to Canada in 1948.

For the last thirty years, he has devoted time and energy to educating others about the Holocaust through speaking engagements and school visits.

He spoke at a public event in Fort Frances Tuesday night before a packed house at the Townshend Theatre.

He was at Fort Frances High School on Wednesday and will conclude his trip with a talk at Emo’s Cornerstone Christian School on Thursday.

He feels it is an obligation to do so for those who did not survive the camps.

“We have to. Those who have survived and suffered are duty-bound to talk about it. Six million people are voiceless. I am their voice. I took it upon myself to be their voice, to make sure that they’re not forgotten,” says Leipciger.

His message to students?

“We have to accept each other the way we are. Learn from each other and through mutual acceptance become better human beings.”

The visit to the Fort Frances area is not his first.

His firm was hired to assist with the renovations to LaVerendrye Hospital in the 1990s.

He was also contracted to work at hospitals in Sioux Lookout and Atikokan.

“We found a wonderful reception here. We had a great interaction with the people of the area. Zero discrimination, zero hatred, and I was accepted. I was never asked questions or anything like that.”

Today, he is happy to answer any questions that come his way.