Philip Gans was barely a teenager when he was sent to a concentration camp. Gans, who spoke at UT last April, survived Auschwitz 3, a slave labor camp. He was arrested by the Nazis on his father’s birthday.
When asked to describe what a typical day in a concentration camp was like, Gans responded, “We worked ten hours a day, seven days a week. It was heavy work all day long with little food.”
Gans will talk for an hour about his life prior to the war, during the onset of World War II and in Auschwitz on Tuesday, March 29 at 9 a.m. in the Reeves Theater.
Gans sells 75 minute-long videos of his presentation for $10.00 on DVD. He will also sell blue wristbands with the words ERASE THE HATE and his camp identification number on them for $1.00.
At fifteen years old, Gans saw most of his immediate family die, with over twenty relatives being gassed and cremated during the course of the Holocaust. His father was killed on a death march and every member of his family on his father’s side died.
There are fewer Holocaust survivors every year. For many students this may be the only opportunity in their lifetime to meet a person like Philip Gans.
Richard Solomon can be reached at richard.solomon@spartans.ut.edu.