Robert Mendler wants people to know he is not a statistic or a number.
“I am a human being,” he states. “Listen to me. I will tell you what happened to me and everyone I knew and loved.” My next writing assignment is an article on Robert Mendler---full name used by his permission. I plan on posting his story on the Beanerywriters blog in several segments. Material is from talks I’ve attended, including one he presented to seventh and eighth grade classes at a Catholic school, a personal interview, and conversations.
Because a Kristallnacht Remembrance is scheduled in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Nov. 7 I thought it an appropriate time to start introducing Mendler to this blog.
Kristallnacht Remembrance commemorates a 1938 Nazi pogrom in which Jewish synagogues, homes and businesses were looted and burned and Jewish citizens were killed. Carolyn “I am a holocaust survivor,” Mendler stated, baring his arm bearing its permanent number on it. “I want you to know I am not a number and I am not a statistic. I am a human being. I had parents a long time ago.” He pointed out that a Jew is a person who practices Judaism. “This is my faith. Religion is only a faith. The Bible is a very good book to read.” “I’m a human being, an American. I give my blood and receive it too, sometimes when having surgery.” Mendler was born in Nowy Targ, a small Poland town, similar to Latrobe, Pennsylvania, now his home. Its population of 8000 included 3000 Jews, almost 40%. Only 39 of them survived the war. He is the lone survivor in his family---eighty-nine of his relatives were lost to the Holocaust.
In September 1, 1939 Mendler had completed seven school grades. On July 1 that year he celebrated his bar mitzpah, a time in the Jewish faith when a boy becomes a man and accepts religious responsibility. His parents were business people. His father owned a candy factory. “I was born with a sweet tooth,” he said, smiling. His mother owned a soda water factory that made soft drinks, stuff like cola. Within 24 hours after the German occupation order came up all Jews over ten years old had to report to the town square. Mendler was thirteen. Jews received white armbands with a blue Star of David to wear. Jews were taken hostage, and if a gentile reported a Jew, he received $5 for the deed. The Jew was punished, beaten, sometimes to the death. “There were many instances like that.” Jews were deprived of all education. Food was rationed. They were forced into heavy labor, mistreated and beaten. Young girls heads were shaved, and many were raped by SS guards. In November Mendler was working in camps 40 kilometers from the Czech border. “Winter was very cold. We lived in mountains, and always had snow. We skied in the summertime. I used to love it. Temperatures were always 30 degrees below zero.” He was among the Jews cleared the highway so the Gestapo chief could drive to his home town, where he murdered Jews for his pleasure. After a few months Mendler, still thirteen years old, was ordered to work in stone quarries. His job was to break granite in small pieces with a hammer. “We had to produce (a certain amount) every day. If you didn’t you were just killed, shot.” After a few months he was sent home and reassigned to work at a lumberyard. “The family was already in a ghetto. All the Gentiles were removed, all Jews moved in. It was fenced in. In big cities there were walls. We were isolated from all different people, constantly guarded by the SS. Members of my family were killed for no reason at all. Lots of my people are buried under today’s highways. Thirty-nine people lived in my home. You can imagine how we lived, slept, survived… On August 29, 1942, Mendler’s father had tears in his eyes as he told the family he would be leaving shortly, that all Jews must leave their homes and go to different camps. “He instructed us what to do.” At seven o’clock August 30 the ghetto was liquidated. All the Jews left their homes and reported to the SS. “We all marched to the stadium with our families,” Mendler said before pausing to wipe a tear away. “I’ve been talking so many times and always lots of things come back on me, I’m very emotional.” After Mendler’s mother said goodbye to his little sister her last words to him were “Remember who you are and what you are. Always respect others.” We were divided into three groups. Children were separated from their mothers. "You can imagine the screaming and crying of them for their mothers." Some woman, men and children were piled into box cars which carried them to gas chambers. “The sick and crippled were taken to a town cemetery where a grave was waiting. Father included. The SS made them undress. Naked, the SS guards chased them all over cemetery and beat and punished them, then lined them up at the grave. With machine guns they (the SS) shot them. Some were still alive falling into grave. Five hundred in all were killed, buried in the mass grave. This was the beginning of mass solution.” Mendler, 13, was just old enough to be useful. He found himself in the third group, those who survived the first division, because he was able to work. Watch the Holocaust category here on the Beanerywriters blog for the next segment of Mendler’s story. Carolyn | 
