Holocaust Survivor Discusses Time Spent In World War II Concentration Camps
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
MENTONE - Only 11 years old at the time, Bill Meyer was sent to Westerbork and then Vught concentration camps for helping Jews during World War II.
He spent 1942 to 1944 in the camps, just trying to survive. Except for two sisters, his family had been murdered by the Nazis for Meyer's efforts. His father had warned him not to get involved.
"The camps were real," Meyer said. "Millions of innocent people died in them, especially 2 million children."
Meyer spoke about his experiences during presentations at The Bell Memorial Library and Mentone United Methodist Church Saturday. The speeches were made possible through a grant from the Indiana Humanities Council, and sponsors Grace College, Mentone United Methodist Church, Tippecanoe Valley School Corp., Mentone Chamber of Commerce and Friends of Bell Memorial Library.
"It's a story of the unspeakable evil mankind is able to inflict upon itself," said Meyer of his story. It's a story about a time when the gates of heaven closed, and the whole of Europe seemed to be in danger.
During the Holocaust, Meyer said, 6 million innocent women, men and children were killed.
Germany's Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party nearly wiped the Jews off the face of the earth, Meyer said. Jews were sent to "work" camps, but were never seen from again. Approximately 120,000 people were killed at concentration camps per day.
"It was allowed to happen," Meyer said, "by people like you and me. ... It was allowed to happen by the sin of omission. By the sin of omission, we were just as guilty. If the rights of one man are trampled, the rights of all men are trampled."
Whenever a person finds evil, he said they should stand up and say enough is enough. They should sabotage evil wherever they find it. If people only take one message from his speech home with them, he said he hopes they understand that all it takes for unspeakable evil to happen is for people to do nothing.
"I happen to believe there are no great men or great women, there are only great challenges they have to meet," Meyer said. Only when a person is faced with great adversity does a person sometimes find great strength within themselves.
When Meyer speaks of his war-time and concentration camp experiences, he said he is speaking for those who can't speak for themselves. He has felt their pain and torture and humiliation. Every one of the victims stands behind him, and he can feel them; he can see them; he can feel their agony.
People in the United States, he said, don't think it can happen here. But if things don't get any better, Meyer said it can.
The German people during World War II, Meyer said, thought they were doing the right thing by eliminating the Jews. They thought they were doing God's will.
"There's no such thing as public morality," Meyer said. "There is only personal morality. You can't hide behind mine, and I can't hide behind yours. You are responsible for your own actions."
More than 60 years after World War II, Meyer questioned whether things have changed. Anti-semitism still exists. Hitler's book, "Mein Kampf," is a best seller in Europe. Meyer said Islam has become the fastest growing religion in the U.S. and Europe with the goal of "most of them" being to destroy Israel.
Thousands of Christians are being killed in Africa, and Americans don't bat an eye. Americans don't think it could happen here, but Meyer said the U.S. could be next.
Anti-semitism is not only wrong, Meyer said, but it's also dangerous. After World War II, Jews made a vow of "never again." That hasn't changed. If Iran ever gets a nuclear bomb, Meyer said Israel will take pre-emptive strikes that could lead to a nuclear world war.
Meyer's own father hated the Jews. He was a police officer and a Nazi as required.
When Meyer was about 11 years old, his family lived next door to Corrie ten Boom, a clock maker. She is the author of "The Hiding Place."
Meyer would work for ten Boom, and she would feed him cookies and milk and tell him stories from her Bible. He delivered packages for her on his bicycle, which now hangs in the Jewish Holocaust Center.
She would always tell him that good overcomes evil.
She also was hiding Jews and helping them out by providing them with rations and other goods. She had Meyer take ration stamps and other items to Jews where they were hiding. Meyer's father had told him not to do it, but he did it anyway. One day, Meyer even transported a little boy to a convent for protection.
"I did not know the danger. This went on for about two years," Meyer said of his work. A little voice inside of him told him that good always overcomes evil.
Eventually, the Germans decided that anyone helping a Jew should be turned in. Anyone who turned them in would get rewarded.
"Because of my actions," Meyer said, "my whole family was killed."
Meyer was arrested and beaten by the Nazi secret police, the Gestapo, until he confessed to making the deliveries. For several days, he was held in a cell naked until he told them what he delivered and to where. Meyer gave them names of people he knew already were arrested.
His father eventually picked him up and took him home. Meyer thought that was the end of it. The next day, however, the Gestapo showed up and killed his entire family. They missed Meyer because he had been sitting underneath the tablecloth.
"My mother fell right in front of me. They then took off. I don't know how long I stayed there," Meyer said.
Eventually, Meyer was caught and sent by cattle car to a concentration camp. "It's impossible to talk about concentration camps if you've never been there," he said.
Harder than the beatings was the humiliation, he said. People were raped in front of him, while others were hung with piano wire. A child hung with piano wire would hang for two hours before they died. Many people died of starvation. "Starvation," Meyer said, "was the worst of all."
After he got out of the camps, Meyer found his older sister in Rotterdam where she worked as a prostitute. Prostitution is legal in Holland. "That's how I stayed alive," Meyer said.
By the time Canada liberated Holland, Meyer had tuberculosis and was done to 60 pounds. He spent a year in the hospital. He said he owes his life to the Canadian soldiers.
Meyer concluded by repeating, "Tomorrow is not guaranteed. So use today to make a difference. So, please, make a difference."
