SPRING ISD – Students at Dekaney High School learned about World War II history recently from a man who lived it. Al Marsk is a holocaust survivor who was held in four different camps in Europe, during World War II. He spoke to about 400 juniors and seniors who were attending from their U.S. history or government and economics classes.
“To understand the holocaust, we have to understand history first,” Marsk said.
Marsk spoke about the events leading up to the outbreak of the war. He recalled his experiences, in Budapest, Hungary, as a young schoolboy who was sent with his parents to his first of four concentration camps.
“That’s when the dark days started for me. They put us in cattle cars that shouldn’t have held more than 40 people, but were loaded with about 100. Then they sent us to Auschwitz,” Marsk said.
After his family’s arrival at Auschwitz, Marsk was separated from his parents.
“It happened so fast, I didn’t have time to hug them or say goodbye. I never saw my parents again,” Marsk said.
The students listened as Marsk recounted his life as a prisoner until he was liberated by the U.S. Army in May 1945.
After his liberation, Marsk came to the United States, served in the army, married, and raised his own family here. He said he believes it is important for today’s students to hear first-hand about the historic events that the survivors lived through, and urged the students to research this period for themselves.
Dekaney students thanked Marsk for sharing his story with them and asked questions about life in the camps and about other members of his extended childhood family who were imprisoned. Only a very few survived.
Marsk told how difficult it was to stay alive in the camps. “It is a brutal thing to talk about, but that is history,” he said.
He added that he has learned to appreciate everything in life and shared these words of wisdom with the students: “If you have a day where everything looks dark – have hope. The sun will still come out.”
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