The Last Survivors

I visited Dachau in 1973 when I was just out of school and the experience has stayed with me. I don't ever want to forget what I felt that day and make an effort by tuning in to programs like this one - The Last Survivors. This program which I caught on PBS took a different approach by talking to the survivors: the brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren of loved ones who perished there. They were asked about their memories of family members they lost 70 years afterwards. It was very moving to hear the memories they shared from their childhood. It was important to capture their words on film because they will soon be gone.

One woman recounted how she said goodbye to her mother who was taken from her and directed to a line for the older or weaker ones. They embraced and the mother said "I love you" to her child and that was the last she saw of her. Another talked about his brother who he was separated from and never saw again. For many years, they buried these memories, which were too painful to talk about.

Others seemed to be reluctant to talk saying it was of no use to share their private memories because people only want to listen to happy stories. How true that often is! One daughter urged her father to talk about it and listened and hugged him. Both had tears in their eyes. That must be better than keeping silent for fear of making people unhappy. I think we can share these private moments with people we are close to, not just for survivors but for others who want to hear.

One brother returned to his childhood home on a street in Krassen in Germany. He was able to witness the laying of small plaques honouring each of his parents and his brother. He was very elderly and he was naturally emotional. This sort of gesture is important because it allows the survivors to get some small piece of closure. It Is also important for others to know and learn from their stories.

I thought this was an engaging, if brief, look into the lives of a few of the remaining Holocaust survivors. It was interesting to see how differently one person dealt with surviving versus another, in terms of their emotions. At the conclusion, I felt as though this should have been just part one of at least a three-part documentary, as there were some survivors shown that only made brief statements, but whose stories would've been just as engrossing and educational as the others who got to tell more of their story.

This was difficult to review. I felt that to review it, I would not do the people justice.

It was at times emotional for me, not as much as for The Survivors, obviously, but a very good collection of different experiences. For most of us, our recollection is black and white film from the War years, that somehow reduces the impact of what we see.

I cannot imagine their experience or their feelings, but am glad that I saw the program and like someone else has written, feel there could have been more.

For Mr Goldberg, who doesn't think that anyone will bother to read the memorial stones on the street where he lived, I'd like to reassure him, that people will. I can't be the only person that does read them when I see them.

One Lady was upset that Auschwitz is now a 'tourist destination'. I sympathise with her, but would like to visit myself, not to take photographs, but to try and imagine the scale of the murder.

I am descended from Jewish stock. I'm not religious. My ancestors came over in the 1880's from the Monchengladbach region. I have a desire to go to try and trace my roots, but am not confident that there will be and family left to find.