Emmaly has quite a story to tell. She ate vegetation to stay alive and slept in mud and feces. On her last day in the camp, Emmaly "was in a coma, hanging to a wall by the wrists and a chain around her neck. Everyone around her was dead." She was 15 years old and weighed 32 pounds.
RAYMOND HILLEGAS • Hays Daily News
Emmaly Reed, a Holocaust survivor, looks to her friend Albie Stephens of Angelus as she recounts her experiences as a prisoner of a concentration camp Thursday night at St. Nicholas of Myra Catholic Church in Hays. Reed was only 3 years old when she became a prisoner, and she remained a prisoner for 12 years.
A story of pain and survival
Published on -4/3/2008, 1:01 PM
By KALEY LYON
The Hays Daily News
klyon@dailynews
Tears glistened on Emmaly Reed's cheeks as she shared painful experiences about her past -- experiences so awful school textbooks don't divulge all the details.
But with a quiet resolve, Reed got through the tears, even sharing a few chuckles with the crowd of 500 who came to hear her personal account of the Holocaust.
"It will haunt me all the time. My memories of it are very hard and very painful," Reed said. "I might sometimes still smile with you and laugh with you, but the pain never goes away. You have to learn to live with it, or you go down the drain."
Reed, 77, now lives in Salina and was in Hays on Thursday evening to share her story with a large crowd at St. Nicholas of Myra Church.
After 12 years of captivity, Reed, who was incarcerated at age 3 for being Jewish, had plenty of stories to share. The Holocaust began when Hitler seized control of Germany in 1933 -- the year she was arrested.
The first little girl taken, and one of the first prisoners at Dachau Concentration Camp, No. 4 was tattooed on her wrist. That number would be her identifying mark for more than a decade.
"They called you by your number to put you down, but they knew my name," Reed said.
The brand was later removed from her skin by a doctor.
"He said, 'Come to my office, and I'll take care of it. You don't have to suffer anymore,' " she said.
She told stories that made the skin crawl. Stories about eating vegetation to stay alive, sleeping in mud and feces and watching people die every day.
She endured torture of various degrees and often was taken to a laboratory where experiments intended to kill were performed on her.
She remembers a kind German soldier, who was tortured and killed in front of everyone for showing sympathy to children.
The daughter of a French officer and a Jewish mother, she was separated from her parents when she was arrested. Her father vocally opposed Hitler's rule and was one of the first killed in concentration camps, Reed said.
* * *
Upon her liberation at age 15, she eventually was reunited with her mother.
Her last day in the camp, she was in a coma, hanging to a wall by the wrists and a chain around her neck. Everyone around her was dead.
"My last day, I was nailed to the wall. I was supposed to be dead, but I wasn't," she said. "I was just in a coma."
The few survivors were liberated by French soldiers, who were led to the camp by her mother. Upon her liberation, she was rushed to a military hospital in France and remained in a coma for months.
At the time, she was 15 years old and weighed 32 pounds.
She knows the European doctors did all they could for her, but also knows there's another reason she's alive, Reed said.
"But I think something else is the reason," she said. "God was in my sight and always stepping in when they tried to kill me."
Reed's message was one of hope.
She became a Messianic Jew during her time in the camps. She befriended many Christian people who also endured persecution as well.
While no one stayed in the same camp -- or alive -- long enough to form long-lasting friendships, these people taught her how to stay alive. They taught her what plants were safe to eat and tried to educate the child by sound of mouth, she said.
They also taught her something more.
Bibles were strictly forbidden in camps. Those who smuggled one in were put to death. However, many of the Christians she met had a thorough knowledge of the book, she said.
"The Christian people taught me how to pray, how to believe in God, how to have hope," Reed said. "I learned how to pray, and it gave me peace. I wanted to die with a halo on my head."
Reed came to America in the 1970s and, decades later, is able to sleep through the night. She's also able to share her experience and is motivated by her desire to share a story of truth and hope.
"I'd like to tell everybody, keep your eyes open," she said. "Stick to the truth. It's very important."
Reed has learned to forgive the people who stole her childhood.
"You have to learn how to forgive. If you don't, you're only hurting yourself," she said.
Emmaly hanging, chained to the wall on the day of liberation, all 32 pounds of her
Emmaly hanging, chained to the wall on the day of liberation, all 32 pounds of her
No comments:
Post a Comment