a lone survivor

When the Nazi army invaded Poland in 1939, Eva Krause was a typical teenager of 14. Family life as she had known it came to an abrupt end when she was marched into the town marketplace with her mother and sister. Amid the shouting, guns and chaos Eva’s grip on her mother’s hand slipped away and she was separated from her family. Eva was the only family member to survive; the others were shipped to their deaths in the gas chambers of Treblinka.

Alone, Eva endured years of starvation, hard labor and disease in Bergen Belsen. “We were stripped of dignity, we were dehumanized. I thought everyday was my last day, I never thought I would survive.”

“My sleepless nights are still haunted by the memories which will remain in me for the rest of my life. The blood of our mother, father, sisters and brother are still worn on my soul.”

“Even today, more than a half century later, many of us are still stunned and horrified by what took place during the Holocaust. But even more unbelievable was the apparent unwillingness of most other countries to take a step necessary to have prevented the ruthless destruction of six million Jews.”

Today Eva frequently speaks to school groups about her experiences. Having grown up in a religious home, she still wants to share her faith in God with the young people with whom she speaks. She has many messages about her personal history to share. But one message she does not share with young audiences. She does not like to mention that, “to this day I am still horrified by the silence [of the world] but beyond that silence, lies an even more terrifying silence, the silence of God.”