Val Ginsburg was one of the few who survived the dreaded holocaust. He was a Lithuanian man who had a dream of becoming an aviator, but because of the tension between Russia and Germany, he had to give up his dreams. Lithuania was located in between Russia and Germany which caused them to be influenced by both superpowers.
At first, the Russian army came and took people for being communist and then the German came to took people if they were Jews or if they just didn’t like them. Because of this, Ginsburg’s family had to decide if they wanted to go to Russia or to stay and take their chances of being safe within German power, and they decided to stay but got arrested and sent to the ghetto in Kaunas. He had to work like a pig inside the concentration camp and was barely able to meet his family. He perceived lots of tragic happening in the camp and late when he came out, he was a “living skeleton”.
Soon after, he was sent to another camp located near Germany, it was because Germany was retreating back. From there, Ginsburg was rescued by the US army and sent to the hospital but was greatly depressed because he was the only one alive from his 14 family members. He met his wife during his 6 months in the hospital and they lived happily until he passed away in 2011.
This story is very impactful and memorable for me because this story shows how harsh life was during his time, especially when you are located between the two big superpowers. Even after he gets sent into the concentration camp, he has no one to rely on and all he ever did was work until he was almost dead. Even after he came out, he would’ve been alone and I think that this would be too tragic for me to live on, but he made it out well.
David Park 