Holocaust survivors return - and have an important message: "This is how our history will not be forgotten"

Created: 04/28/2022Updated: 04/28/2022 09:36

By: Christiane Breitenberger

“Places like this tell our story when we can no longer do it”: Holocaust survivors Martin Hecht (standing) and Erwin Farkas in front of a commemorative plaque on the “Path of Remembrance” at the water tower.

It shows a photo of Farkas as a teenager © Norbert Habschied

Two Holocaust survivors have returned to Markt Indersdorf.

During their visit, the over 90-year-old men explain what the place means to them and why the "Way of Remembrance" is more important than ever.

Indersdorf - It will be the last time he visits this place.

He feels that.

Erwin Farkas is now 92 years old, needs a wheelchair, and finds it difficult to stand and walk.

But he still wanted to make the arduous journey from the USA again.

Definitely wanted to come here again.

Back to Indersdorf.

The place where he found security for the first time as a teenager.

Both had to learn to live with the unbearable.

With the knowledge that the National Socialists murdered her parents, her siblings.

Martin Hecht, now 91, was also accommodated as a youth in the International Children's Center in the Indersdorf monastery.

Both had to learn to live with the unbearable.

With the knowledge that the National Socialists murdered her parents, her siblings.

With the memory of images in my head that seem unbearable.

Erwin Farkas as a teenager in front of the Indersdorf water tower.

© Anna Andlauer

It is thanks to the local historian Anna Andlauer that the two of them came back to Indersdorf today to tell their story.

In 2008, for the first time, she invited survivors to Indersdorf who had been accommodated as children and young people in the International Children's Center in the monastery after the Second World War.

Up to 15 witnesses came, today there are only Martin Hecht and Erwin Farkas.

Andlauer wants to show them something special for the first time: the path of remembrance, which was set up in 2021 on their initiative.

Path of Remembrance in Indersdorf is an important memorial site

The path provides information about the monastery children with its five commemorative plaques.

From July 1945 to September 1948, the Indersdorf monastery offered temporary and safe accommodation to more than 1000 children and young people from over 20 nations.

Among them were Martin Hecht and Erwin Farkas.

In addition, the path is reminiscent of the cruel story about the children's barracks.

It's the place that brought my life back to normal, that allowed me to become an ordinary teenager.

Holocaust survivor Erwin Farkas

Martin Hecht and Erwin Farkas means a lot to Indersdorf.

"It's the place that brought my life back to normal, that allowed me to become an ordinary youth," emphasizes Erwin Farkas.

Friends from Indersdorf pushed his wheelchair in front of the commemorative plaque on the water tower on the path of remembrance.

Here the man with the blue eyes recognizes a photo of himself as a teenager in front of the water tower.

Up here was a place where they could experience normal things.

Laughing with friends, a first kiss.

Unimaginable when you hear the experiences of Erwin Farkas and Martin Hecht, which they have often told - and want to tell "as long as we can", as Martin Hecht emphasizes.

“So that the world will know and never forget what happened back then.

So it can never happen again.”

Martin Hecht in the International Children's Center in the Indersdorf Monastery © Anna Andlauer

Erwin Farkas in the International Children's Center in the Indersdorf Monastery.

© Anna Andlauer

Martin Hecht hears the shots as his brothers are shot.

At this point he was completely emaciated, his body covered in lice, he had months of forced labor behind him and had to lay railroad tracks through a mountain in a Gross-Rosen satellite camp.

There was hardly any food.

It's on a westbound evacuation march when its older brethren are tapped.

Now there is only his brother Jakob.

With him he comes to the Flossenbürg concentration camp, where they were forced on a death march in the direction of Dachau.

"I didn't let go of his hand, we were so weak," says Hecht.

 The only thing that kept me alive was the will to tell the world what happened here.

Contemporary witness Martin Hecht

Erwin Farkas was also on this march, he too was in the Flossenbürg concentration camp with his brother in the winter of 1944/45.

Here they met their childhood friend Lazar again.

As close as the end of the war was, freedom was so far away.

Together with 200 prisoners they were sent on the death march.

Those who fell were shot, those who could not go further died.

"We were just skin and bones.

There was a finish every few minutes,” says Erwin Farkas today.

The brothers supported their weak friend, carrying him most of the time.

"Without us, they would have shot him." Erwin Farkas had long since stopped feeling his toes at this point.

They're frozen.

On April 23, the friends are liberated by the US Army and come to the international children's center in the Indersdorf monastery.

About a year later, the two brothers emigrate to the USA.

Martin Hecht also emigrated quickly.

He and his brother lived in England, Hecht only emigrated to Israel 13 years ago.

Contemporary witness emphasizes: "Before, I was no longer a person, they made me a number."

For him, too, it is "unimaginably important to come back to Indersdorf".

Unlike Farkas, Hecht is still fit despite his 91 years and walks along the “Path of Remembrance” in jeans and sneakers with quick, determined steps.

He wants to study each of the plaques carefully.

In front of a board on the monastery wall, he explains what Indersdorf means to him: "Here I was allowed to be a person again," he says.

"Before, I wasn't a person anymore, they made me a number." When he came to Indersdorf, he was "in a very bad state, had nobody.

But they took care of me here.”

Martin Hecht describes in a strong, loud voice why he is standing here today and telling his story.

“I was 13 years old and almost died in a labor camp.

The only thing that kept me alive was the will to tell the world what happened here.”

It's places like this that remind people of what happened here a long time ago.

Who tell our story when we can't anymore.

Holocaust survivor Martin Hecht

Erwin Farkas knows exactly what his friend means about the survivor meetings.

His blue eyes suddenly become very awake: "It's important to remember what happened.

Perhaps more important than ever.” On that day, too, he told his story to Indersdorf schoolchildren again – probably for the last time.

He emphasizes: "Everyone has a responsibility to be aware of what is happening around them and a responsibility to make good, humane decisions."

The survivors are doing everything they can to use their knowledge to ensure that something like this never happens again

The survivors are doing everything they can to use their knowledge to help ensure that “nothing like this will ever happen again,” as Martin Hecht emphasizes.

His wife Aida becomes sad, thinking about the war raging in Ukraine.

"It's too painful to believe that this is really happening." That's why it's all the more important never to be blinded by propaganda politics.

Martin Hecht is grateful to Anna Andlauer for her work.

"It's places like this that remind people of what happened here a long time ago.

Who tell our story when we can no longer."

By the way: everything from the region is also available in our regular Dachau newsletter.