Holocaust Survivor Tells Students He Was ‘Just A Number'

By Lori Goat

A Holocaust survivor of World War II Nazi concentration camps, Michael Jacobs, spoke of his experiences and insights to Tecumseh Middle School students on May 18.

“I never lost hope. I never lost belief. I knew I would survive,” Jacobs said.

The blood of eleven million people, six million Jews, was spilled by Adolph Hitler's Nazi troops during WW II. The carnage began and so did Jacobs' journey when Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939.

That November, 14-year-old Mendel Jakubowicz (Michael Jacobs) and his family were thrown out of their home and transported by railroad boxcar to a ghetto in Ostroweic, Poland.

“Those ghettos weren't like the ghettos you know. We had no freedom. Every move was watched,” Jacobs said. “The wrong move got you killed.”

One of Jacobs' duties while at Ostroweic was to collect items from empty Jewish homes. It was not uncommon for him to come across an infant left behind by families who knew they were doomed to die in death camps.

“The families thought if they left the babies, the children might have a chance to live. No chance,” Jacobs said. “We took the babies to a tall building. They were thrown out of the windows for German soldiers to shoot.”

In 1942, Ostroweic was broken into several smaller camps. Jacobs and one brother, Reuven, was sent to one of the smaller camps. His two other brothers, two sisters, and his parents were sent to the Treblinka death camp.

“Two, three months later, we heard they were all killed,” Jacobs said.

More than 80 members of Jacobs' extended family died during the war.

“After my family was killed in Treblinka, Reuven escaped and was killed fighting for liberation,” Jacobs said.

In 1943, 17-year-old Jacobs was moved to the infamous death camp, Auschwitz.

“I remember being relieved getting out of the boxcar. They were so crowded, 75, 100 people in each car. The prison orchestra played for us. But, the air smelled of smoke and burnt human skin,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs noticed a man in a white coat watching the prisoners get off the train. He would point at certain people and they would be led away from the others.

“I didn't know when I got off the train, but I learned the man in the while coat was Josef Mengele,” Jacobs said.

Mengele performed unconventional and hellish medical experiments on prisoners. He was known as the Angel of Death.

Jacobs survived Auschwitz and was moved to Birkenau prison. He was a part of the 35 kilometer, 5 day death march in the snow to the train junction leading to Mauthausan-Gusen II. Sixty thousand people began the march. Forty-two thousand people died or were killed along the way.

During his imprisonment at Gusen II, Jacobs worked as a machinist. When possible and at extreme risk to himself, he sabotaged German planes.

On May 5, 1945, American tanks rolled into Gusen II.

“I didn't know what was happening. I said, ‘Hey guys, look, the Nazi tanks have stars on them, not swastikas.' A soldier came out of the tank and handed me a big chocolate bar. I said, ‘Hey guys, look at this, a Hershel bar.' It was a Hershey's bar,” Jacob said.

Jacobs and his fellow inmates were liberated by the American Thunderbolts, the Army's 11th Armored Division.

Not wanting to be put in a Displaced Persons' Camp, Jacobs walked to Linz.

“Catholic nuns were serving soup in a bombed-out house. They weighed me while I was there. I stepped on the scale and it read 70 pounds. I couldn't believe it,” Jacobs said.

With the assistance of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Jacobs emigrated to Dallas, Texas, in 1951. He founded the Jacobs Iron and Metal Company, met his wife Ginger, and had four children.

Jacobs organized the Holocaust survivors in the Dallas area and founded the Dallas Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies, which opened on April 15, 1984.

Following his lecture about his life and times in concentration camps, Jacobs presented a slide show of photographs taken by the Nazis and of personal pictures of his post-war visits to Poland and Germany.

The photos showed the concentration camps, rooms filled with suitcases, shoes, and other items taken from prisoners, and the gas chambers.

Jacobs also showed the students artifacts of his time in the camps, the cap he wore, a pair of child's shoes, and a bar of soap the Nazis made out of human fat.

The most permanent artifact was the tattoo on Jacobs' forearm, “B4990”.

“The SS man asked me if I knew what the number meant. I said no. He told me I wasn't human anymore. I was just a number,” Jacobs said.

As Jacobs presented the slide show and artifacts, he repeated the same three words, “Nobody can deny.”

After the program, Indian counselor Victor Cope presented the Jacobs with a Native American blanket and shawl.

“My people experienced hardships similar to yours and your people. We would like you to have these tokens of our understanding and appreciation,” said Cope, visibly shaken with emotion.

Jacobs lectures throughout the region on the Holocaust. His book, Holocaust Survivor: Mike Jacobs' Triumph Over Tragedy, is in its eighth printing.

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