November 2022 Deaths: Clary, Cara and McVie

ROBERT CLARY, 96

**  A French-born survivor of Nazi concentration camps during World War II who played a feisty POW in the improbable 1960s sitcom "Hogan's Heroes.

Died November 16.

IRENE CARA, 63

**  Oscar, Golden Globes and two-time Grammy winning singer-actor who starred and sang the title cut from the 1980 hit movie "Fame" and then belted out the era-defining "Flashdance...What a Feeling" from 1983's "Flashdance."

Died November 25.

CHRISTINE McVIE, 79

**  British-born Fleetwood Mac vocalist, songwriter and keyboard player whose cool, soulful contralto helped define such classics as "You Make Loving Fun," "Everywhere" and "Don't Stop."

Died November 30.

Dead Page: All This Computer Stuff

JACK TRAMIEL (1928-2012)

Founded Commodore International which brought millions of people into the computer world in the late 1970s and early 1980s with his low-cost PCs died at age 83 April 8th.

A Polish-born survivor of World War II's Auschwitz concentration camp opened a typewriter repair business in the Bronx in the early 1950s.  In 1977, he introduced the first low-cost PC, the Commodore PET with two models selling for $595 and $795.  In 1982 came the Commodore 64 which sold for $595 and quickly dropped to $199.

He was literally the Henry Ford of the computer industry.

I, myself didn't get into computers until 1999, when my school finally got them.  But, now, I sure like all the information I can access, so a big thanks to Mr. Tramiel.  And, just the fact he survived Auschwitz is noteworthy enough.

Kristallnacht: November 9-10, 1938

The night the Holocaust began.

From an ad in the Nov. 9th Chicago Tribune by the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.

It reads: "Throughout Germany and Austria, the Nazis unleashed a wave of terror against the people of the Jewish faith.

More than 30,000 Jewish people were forced into concentration camps and countless others were beaten or killed.

Thousands of Jewish homes, businesses and places of worship were burned and destroyed.

WE MUST NEVER FORGET."

The beginning of a horrible chapter of human history. And things just got worse.

Not Forgetting. --DaCoot

Jewish World War II Veterans Recall Fight-- Part 2

Howard Haas, 90, of Glencoe, says that one of his bombing missions took him directly over Auschwitz, but at the time he didn't know about the extent of the atrocities taking place below him. "We flew over Auschwitz, but we didn't know Auschwitz was a death camp. We just thought it was a concentration camp." Mr. Haas is the former president and CEO of Sealy Mattress Company.

Even had they had the knowledge, they still wouldn't have attacked, "We couldn't have bombed Auschwitz from 22,000 feet. We would have killed more Jews than the Germans did."

Courtney Shanken, 89, of Highland Park was also at the University of Chicago and enlisted in the Army Air Corps with his twin brother Earl. He became a navigator and had 50 combat missions over Europe and was part of the Normandy diversionary force.

The Shankens bombed airplane factories, railroads and oil fields. Whenever the mission took them over German, Shanken removed his dog tags that identified him as a Jew, knowing that the Nazis would probably give him major mistreatment.

More to Come. --Cooter

Jewish WWII Vets Recall Fight Against Nazis-- Part 1

From the November 10th Chicago Tribune.

Four who had "H"-- for Hebrew-- on their dog tags to speak Friday in Highland Park" by Robert Channick.

When most people think of the Jewish experience during World War II, thoughts immediately turn to concentration camps and the Holocaust. However, that is not the whole story.

As Americans, Jews joined the military to defeat the Axis Powers. As Jews, they fought against the atrocities committed by the Nazis on their European brethren.

Some 500,000 Jews served in American forces and four have agreed to give a talk about their experiences in Highland Park. All are members of the Congregation Soleil in the city.

Deborah Dash Moore of the University of Michigan and author of "GI Jews" says "we only think about European Jews who were victims of the Holocaust. We don't think about American Jews and the ways in which military service was a response to the war and the persecution of European Jews."

Of course, I have to wonder how much was actually known about the Holocaust and Final Solution during the war. I have never found a definitive explanation. Obviously, the Nazis hated Jews and had done horrible things to them before the war, but, how much actually was known once the war commenced.

More to Come. --Cooter

Death Camp Liberator Looks Back

Mary Schmich in the April 14th Chicago Tribune.

We just recently observed Holocaust Day, a very sad day in the annals of history. On April 15th, Carl Levy and 119 other veterans were honored in Washington, DC, as liberators of German concentration camps. However, at the time, neither he or the others in his platoon thought of themselves as that.

There were "no grateful tears, huzzas or smiles, no cinematic fanfare," according to Schmich.

On that cool May 2, 1945, most of the men weren't sure what they were seeing. there was no warning from officers about what they were to witness. According to Levy, "In those days, a lowly infantryman was a lowly infantryman. There were no lectures on the grand scheme of things."

But Levy knew. he is Jewish and Jews knew.

there was a compound, guard towers, a wire fence and humans in striped uniforms, filthy and starving. Then, there were the corpses. They weren't cheering, "They didn't have the energy to cheer."

Levy later learned he was at a subcamp of the infamous Dachau. He didn't remember a smell, but in the ensuing weeks, nearby Germans told of the strange odor that would waft from the camp that came from the bodies being burned in ovens.

Levy believes that the men who came behind him and provided medical assistance and saved so many lives were the real ones deserving the honor he received.

Completely Unbelievable That Something Like This Would Happen. --Cooter

Concentration Camp Message Found

On April 28th, ABC News reported that workers demolishing a wall of a building that was part of the Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp found a message written by prisoners 65-years ago.

It is known that at least two of the signees survived, but nothing is known of what happened to them after the war.

The message was in a bottle planted in the wall of a building of the State Higher Vocational School in the southern Poland town of Oswiesim that had served as a warehouse for the German guards. It was hand-written in pencil and had the names and camp ID numbers of seven prisoners including 4 Poles and a Frenchman from Lyon, all ages 18-20.

More than one million souls died at Auschwitz-Birkenau.

I'm Hoping Any Survivors Can Be Found. --Cooter

Obama Relative Recalls WW II Horror

The May 8th Chicago Tribune ran an article by John McCormick and Charles Payne, the great uncle of President Obama. He has kept out of the public limelight until now, when it has been reported that the resident will visit the concentration camp Payne helped liberate in April 1945.

He spent his working career at the library science building at the University of Chicago, but back then, "he was Private First Class in the 89th Infantry Division when he participated in the liberation of Ohrdruf, a forced labor camp that was a satellite of the Buchenwald concentration camp."

"I remember seeing a lot of really emaciated people in rags at the point of starvation. People were clutching tin cups for food. I saw sheds where dead bodies had been stacked up.

German news agencies have reported that Obama might visit Buchenwald this summer in honor of the 65th anniversary of D-Day and the Group of Eight summit in July.

Last Memorial Day, Obama mistakenly referred to his great uncle as liberating Auschwitz during the war, but corrected it.

It Will Be Interesting to See if the President Visits the Site. Even Better, He Should Bring His Great Uncle Along With Him. --Cooter

Poland Running Out of Funds to Preserve Symbols of Nazi Genocide

The September 12th Chicago Tribune had an article by Laurie Goering about how Poland is short funds for preservation of the symbols of Nazi genocide, particularly in the most infamous concentration camp, Auschwitz.

However, Auschwitz and it neighboring satellite camp of Birkenau, were not built to last. hastily-constructed brick barracks where hundreds of thousands of prisoners spent their last days sleeping in straw on crude wooden bunks have been buckling and heaving each winter. Efforts have been made to prevent corrosion on the camps' concrete fence posts with their barbed wire. The tens of thousands of aging documents and vast piles of shoes, suitcases, and dolls are suffering as well.

An official says that Poland is not a rich country and that the whole camps may have to be closed in ten to twenty years if preservation does not take place.

At Birkenau, where most of the 1.5 million Jews and others who died at the camps were murdered, visitors can still walk the railway siding where families were herded out and checked by Nazi physicians to see who could work and who would die.

Nearby, there are also 150 brick and wooden barracks and other camp buildings as well as the ruins of mass gas chambers and crematoriums that were destroyed by the Nazis as the war ended.

Last year, 1.5 million people toured the camps.

Lest We Forget. Let's Hope the Camps Are Saved. --