My brand new drawing is made in loving and eternal memory of the great and irreplaceable Holocaust survivor, Alter Wiener.
Unfortunately, Alter was walking home from the grocery store and was hit and killed by a car at the age of 92. He will live on in our hearts, lives and our efforts to keep his legacy living on. Rest in peace, my dear friend. You will always be one of a kind.
(October 1926 - December 2018)
In honor of my Holocaust Survivor friend's tragic passing, I am selling prints of my graphite pencil portrait. All proceeds will be donated to Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. Alter Wiener was very active in Portland, Oregon and sharing his story. Every penny will be donated in the effort to make change and get the state of Oregon to mandate Holocaust education in schools. Please go to https://danabenz.darkroom.tech/ to purchase. Thank you!
Rest in peace, Alter Wiener. You are treasured!
Alter Wiener was born in Chrzanów, Poland, to a loving, influential, well respected and very religious family. His Mother passed away when he was only a four year old child. His father remarried and Alter recalled, “My stepmother treated me and my older brother very well. She was as devoted to us as she was to her own child.” Alter’s father had a successful business, which he inherited from his parents. “We had a relatively good life; not lacking anything that was available in those times,” he said. The Wiener family was Jewish and devout. His father’s motto was always, “Hate hatred and shun violence.”
Alter had said, “In retrospect, it seems to me, that life in those days was very meaningful. There was an abundance of love, and care for each other. The values, such as faith, honesty, righteousness, respect for the elderly, personal responsibilities, to be industrious and eager to learn, that I cherish today, were instilled at home; we were practically sheltered from the outside world’s negative influence.”
Normal life had ended when Alter was only 13 years old when Germany invaded Poland. His father was brutally and senselessly murdered by the Nazi’s. Alter discovered his partially decomposed body a few months after he was killed. At the age of 15, Alter was deported to his first concentration camp. He would then lose a horrendous 123 family members at a young age. Alter was incarcerated for three years in five different disgusting camps. He lived in atrocious conditions and slaved away doing cruel work. He was starving and thirsty for years. The things this amazing man had lived through, seen and experienced were absolutely beyond abhorrent. It is a miracle that he survived.
He was liberated from the last camp on May 9th, 1945. He was given a 3 day period to either steal, rape or kill any Nazi officer that he saw. The Russian liberators took pity on the prisoner’s suffering. Alter chose to not seek revenge and instead gave mercy and love to those who did not deserve such gracious gifts. After such tumultuous circumstances, his life long goal was to furthermore become better, not bitter. Also, I know for a fact that if Alter was still alive today, he would forgive the person who unfortunately hit him with their car. Alter was such a treasured and loving human being that he had no room in his heart for hatred. To the person who is out there suffering with grief over Alter's death, may you find tremendous love, peace and comfort that you are forgiven.
Alter and I met after I read his book in December of 2016. I was incredibly moved by his story and I had to reach out to him in humble adoration. After the deep psychological, emotional and mental torture this man faced, I desperately wanted to try and comfort him in anyway that I knew how. My goal was to offer genuine kindness, deep love, encouragement and hope. He was very strong and overcame immeasurable struggles but he was still a very fragile soul. Sadly, his trauma was very real and he suffered greatly throughout his entire life. As a writer and an artist, I wanted to show Alter and the world the tremendous good that was inside of this man. Alter and I continued to speak for the next 3 years. I am grateful to say that he became a great friend and was the greatest man that I have ever met in my entire life. In 2017, I drew Alter’s portrait and wrote a poem that was based on his book, “From A Name to A Number.” To our delight, my poem ended up being published. My goal was to use my God given creative gifts as a way to further Alter’s story and legacy.
May he be honored and live on through every word and every stroke of the pencil. I pray that his life will continue to cause a massive ripple effect and that many, many lives will be changed by him for decades. History must be taught or we will be doomed to repeat it. Everyday, Alter’s story reminds me to be humble and grateful for what I have and not to forget to recognize the blessings that God has bestowed upon me. Alter was a man that stands as a role model for generations of all kinds; he was someone with passion, kindness and love in his heart for every single person. We must hate ignorance and stand for truth. We must hate hatred and shun violence. We must be better, not bitter. We must love harder, deeper, stronger and more profoundly than ever before. We must commit ourselves everyday to these principles and genuinely live them out in our actions as well as our words. May we rebel against evil and fight for justice and equality in humankind. May we live to uplift one another and bring peace to those who are downtrodden and forgotten. Here’s to nullifying Hitler’s ideologies by pressing on in kindness and faith towards the human race.. Let’s make the world a better and more caring place.
God bless you, Alter. Thank you for being my friend. I will forever treasure you.
Rising from the Ashes
By Dana Benz
Dawn had come and all was not right. The Nazis roamed the streets, evil prowled the night.
They came in cars, and guns they held. In their homes they hid, the house became a cell.
They had no rights, no dignity, no wealth. They hid in the shadows and clung to their health.
And they marched; not knowing their fate, leaving all they knew behind in the ghetto.
Mothers tightly clenched fists of frightened children, no answers for them.
No longer considered human, they were condemned.
They walked with the yellow stars in view, along familiar streets, together with thy neighbor.
And they marched; where uniformed guards stood ready, shouting their orders.
And they were herded; like cattle, into crowded trains, speaking silent prayers.
And they endured; the unpleasant odor of sweat and stool, standing side to side.
Packed in tight quarters, and treated like lessors, they were tortured by the relentless suppressors.
And they endured; the harsh conditions, the death camps, cold and hunger.
And they cried, as they were forced to go to the left or to the right.
Life or death was cruelly decided in the blink of an eye
Loved ones were being ripped away from their arms as they had to say heartbroken goodbyes.
They were shunned and beat, forever harassed.
They shouted, they hit, they threw them aside.
They stripped them of possession, honor and pride.
A barren landscape, riddled with death and decay.
Not a flower in sight, even on a spring day.
The death camps showed hatred with a sinister grin.
The sky shined no longer, it reeked of sorrow and their “sin.”
They were fuel for the Nazi’s fires, they were told every night.
They were a bird without wings, eager for flight.
Oh, Liberation day! How it finally came.
Now, the world could know of the Nazi’s shame.
How abhorrent! There was so much to blame.
And yet, my friend somehow--SOMEHOW
looked on these criminals without an ounce of hate.
What a lesson, what a man, what strength!
I have truly never met anyone that was so great.
I am immensely sorry for how he had been so scarred.
And, even still, he came so far.
Names that they tried to turn into a number.
Evil attempted to steal their hope and future,
but he could not be encumbered.
