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505th Command and Control Wing News

Holocaust survivors recall horrors of past

  • Published
  • By Bill Dowell
  • 505th Command and Control Wing Public Affairs
HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. --  Two Holocaust survivors offered a rare glimpse of their very different journeys during Hurlburt Field's Annual Holocaust Remembrance Ceremony here May 4.

Pittsburg, Penn., Resident Herman Snyder and Pensacola, Fla., Resident Dr. Victor Sapio each spoke about their experiences and answered questions following the ceremony. The event was hosted by the 505th Command and Control Wing on behalf of the 1st Special Operations Wing. The theme of this year's observance is "Stories of Freedom: What You Do Matters."

Snyder, the event's guest speaker, was born in Poland in 1920: his young teenage years spent training as a carpenter. In September 1941, his family was forced into a Jewish ghetto. His mother pleaded with him to stay with his family, but Snyder jumped the ghetto's walls and ran, never seeing his family again. Not long after, the Nazis killed everyone from the town.

"After I left the ghetto we couldn't walk during the day. We always had to walk at night," Snyder said with his thick accent.

As he traveled, his party grew to four, eight, and then 12.

"Somehow we were surviving," Snyder said.

He spent two years as a fugitive, surviving many close calls and living by his wits to avoid detection. By 1943, Snyder made it to Russia where he used his carpenter skills making wooden boxes for transporting bombs.

After the war ended, he returned briefly to Poland before immigrating to the United States in 1949 and settling in Pittsburg. He built many of the homes in his neighborhood, married and raised three children, one of whom serves in the U.S. Air Force. Snyder was one of three Holocaust survivors featured in the 2006 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award Winning Documentary "From Pittsburg To Poland: Lessons of the Holocaust".

Doctor Sapio's journey was far different. Born in Italy in 1937 to parents of Russian and Jewish heritage, his family was forced into German concentration camps at the start of World War II in 1939. Spending the entire time in concentration camps, he and his mother were liberated by British troops in 1945 near Stuttgart, Germany. Both immigrated to the United States in 1947.

"I had no will to survive the camps. I was too young," Doctor Sapio said.

"One of the worst things about being in the cages is that time doesn't matter. There is no past, there is no future," Doctor Sapio continued. "The adjustment of continuing on is not easy."

In his closing remarks, 505th CCW Commander Col. Edward McKinzie reminded everyone the importance of hosting and attending these events - to never forget the atrocities that occurred.

"You know we live in the greatest country in the world," McKinzie said. "Here in the Air Force, we have the core values. When we lead with integrity and serve with excellence, we're going to make sure we prevent things like this from happening ever again."