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Published by www.EPlusPromotes.com www.TheCatoctinBanner.com The Catoctin Banner Newspaper October 2015 Page 33
Holocaust Survivor Shares His Story with Catoctin Students
James Rada, Jr.
As an eighty-five-year- Photo by James Rada, Jr. would have been killed
old man, it wouldn’t seem if one of the soldiers
that Mark Strauss would hadn’t found a picture
be able to relate to modern of Strauss’s father in his
teenagers. However, when Polish army uniform.
he recently sat down The sight of the soldier
before a group of students in the picture changed
at Catoctin High School, the man’s mind about
Strauss didn’t tell them what he was doing, and
about his adulthood. He he ordered his men to
took them all the way back leave.
to 1941, when he was just The remaining Jews
a boy of eleven, living in in Lvov were eventually
Lvov, Poland. forced into a Jewish
“I was hunted to ghetto, an area of the
be killed, and almost city that was far too
my entire family and Holocaust Survivor, Mark Strauss, speaks with students at Catoctin High School small a space, even for
community were,” said about his personal experience and what it was like at that time in history. the few remaining Jews.
Strauss. Strauss and his parents
He lived in a small weren’t Jewish, there was always the had to share a room
three-room apartment with his possibility a neighbor would turn with twenty people. There was
parents and grandparents. When them in. no greenery, no place to go to the
World War II started, his town came Jews were taken from their homes bathroom, and little food and water.
under control of the Soviet Union; to be interrogated or simply shot on A Catholic woman eventually
however, in 1941, Germany attacked the street. Others were loaded into wound up hiding Strauss in a 10 x
the Soviet Union and took control of a truck and taken to a mass grave 12 room for a year and a half.
Poland. outside of the town, where they were “I was in jail, but a jail where you
Strauss watched the German army shot. fear you could be executed every day
roll into his town in their tanks and “In one year’s time, almost all and not just wait out your time,”
troop transports. The soldiers were the Jews in my town had been said Strauss.
all in high spirits, which shouldn’t be murdered,” Strauss said. “My A jail it may have been, but it
surprising since they were winning family—thirty to forty people— allowed him to survive, as the few
the war. were killed, except for me and my remaining Jews in Lvov were killed
Yet, the next day, problems parents.” or died from starvation. He still
began. Strauss was walking on the Strauss would hide himself from had little food, but at least he had
street when he saw a mob of people people to avoid the Nazis on the a certain degree of safety. Strauss
attack a man and beat him to death. streets. His grandparents weren’t said he appreciated the family’s
“Two thousand people, mostly so lucky. He saw them being taken bravery in hiding him since he knew
men, were killed in the next couple away, presumably to be killed, since that they could have been killed for
days,” recalled Strauss. “My uncle he never saw them again. hiding him.
went for a walk on the street and Eventually Strauss’s luck ran Strauss and the other Jews in
never came back. Temples were out when a group of soldiers and Lvov were liberated by the Soviet
torched, sometimes with people local police broke into his family’s Army in 1944. He moved to New
inside.” apartment. Strauss was there with York in 1947. He worked at MIT
These people were Jews, who his mother. His father was working and became a painter and author.
made up about one-fifth of the at his job. The local policemen He also shares his story with groups
town’s population. The Jewish ransacked the apartment, looking for like the students at Catoctin High
community lived in fear as soldiers money. School so that they can better
began going door to door, looking “I was scared, because I knew I understand what it was like during
for Jewish citizens. Even if a Jewish was going to die,” Strauss said. the Holocaust, and that something
family lied and said that they Strauss and his mother probably like that never happens again.
Holocaust Survivor Shares His Story with Catoctin Students
James Rada, Jr.
As an eighty-five-year- Photo by James Rada, Jr. would have been killed
old man, it wouldn’t seem if one of the soldiers
that Mark Strauss would hadn’t found a picture
be able to relate to modern of Strauss’s father in his
teenagers. However, when Polish army uniform.
he recently sat down The sight of the soldier
before a group of students in the picture changed
at Catoctin High School, the man’s mind about
Strauss didn’t tell them what he was doing, and
about his adulthood. He he ordered his men to
took them all the way back leave.
to 1941, when he was just The remaining Jews
a boy of eleven, living in in Lvov were eventually
Lvov, Poland. forced into a Jewish
“I was hunted to ghetto, an area of the
be killed, and almost city that was far too
my entire family and Holocaust Survivor, Mark Strauss, speaks with students at Catoctin High School small a space, even for
community were,” said about his personal experience and what it was like at that time in history. the few remaining Jews.
Strauss. Strauss and his parents
He lived in a small weren’t Jewish, there was always the had to share a room
three-room apartment with his possibility a neighbor would turn with twenty people. There was
parents and grandparents. When them in. no greenery, no place to go to the
World War II started, his town came Jews were taken from their homes bathroom, and little food and water.
under control of the Soviet Union; to be interrogated or simply shot on A Catholic woman eventually
however, in 1941, Germany attacked the street. Others were loaded into wound up hiding Strauss in a 10 x
the Soviet Union and took control of a truck and taken to a mass grave 12 room for a year and a half.
Poland. outside of the town, where they were “I was in jail, but a jail where you
Strauss watched the German army shot. fear you could be executed every day
roll into his town in their tanks and “In one year’s time, almost all and not just wait out your time,”
troop transports. The soldiers were the Jews in my town had been said Strauss.
all in high spirits, which shouldn’t be murdered,” Strauss said. “My A jail it may have been, but it
surprising since they were winning family—thirty to forty people— allowed him to survive, as the few
the war. were killed, except for me and my remaining Jews in Lvov were killed
Yet, the next day, problems parents.” or died from starvation. He still
began. Strauss was walking on the Strauss would hide himself from had little food, but at least he had
street when he saw a mob of people people to avoid the Nazis on the a certain degree of safety. Strauss
attack a man and beat him to death. streets. His grandparents weren’t said he appreciated the family’s
“Two thousand people, mostly so lucky. He saw them being taken bravery in hiding him since he knew
men, were killed in the next couple away, presumably to be killed, since that they could have been killed for
days,” recalled Strauss. “My uncle he never saw them again. hiding him.
went for a walk on the street and Eventually Strauss’s luck ran Strauss and the other Jews in
never came back. Temples were out when a group of soldiers and Lvov were liberated by the Soviet
torched, sometimes with people local police broke into his family’s Army in 1944. He moved to New
inside.” apartment. Strauss was there with York in 1947. He worked at MIT
These people were Jews, who his mother. His father was working and became a painter and author.
made up about one-fifth of the at his job. The local policemen He also shares his story with groups
town’s population. The Jewish ransacked the apartment, looking for like the students at Catoctin High
community lived in fear as soldiers money. School so that they can better
began going door to door, looking “I was scared, because I knew I understand what it was like during
for Jewish citizens. Even if a Jewish was going to die,” Strauss said. the Holocaust, and that something
family lied and said that they Strauss and his mother probably like that never happens again.
