Joe Alexander, "A Dozen Camps" 2023

Joseph "Joe" Alexander spent his youth in the town of Koval, Poland, in a family that included his parents, three sisters, and two brothers. Of this family, only he would survive the Holocaust.

Shortly after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, Joe and his family were seized and sent to a concentration camp. For Joe, this was the first of twelve camps that he would endure during World War II. Another would be Dachau, the oldest Nazi camp and one of the most infamous. But particularly pivotal for Joe would be Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he would lose his parents and younger brother to the gas chamber, they being among the roughly one million Jews who were murdered there. Joe could easily have shared the fate of his family on that occasion, for the notorious Nazi doctor Josef Mengele directed him to join a line that Joe realized was headed for the gas chamber, and he had the quick wits to switch to another. That same night, he had a number tattooed on his arm that he still bears: 142584.

 The threats to Joe’s life included not only the gas chamber, but starvation, endless hours of forced labor, typhoid, and extreme cruelty. He could certainly be excused if his experiences during the war left him permanently embittered. Yet, a friend of his in Los Angeles, where he currently lives, describes him as “happy, grateful, positive, kind, and generous. He never holds a grudge, but he forgives and moves forward.” One thing that supports him is his drive to teach audiences, and especially young audiences, about the Holocaust. As he has commented, “they say that 70 percent of the children I talk to never heard of the Holocaust, so that is why it is important to speak to them to let them know what happened. To prevent another Holocaust, I am doing as much as I can. I have been [speaking publicly about my experiences] since 1997.”

The moderator for Joe’s talk is Dr. Katherine Hubler, a member of the History faculty at OSU.

At Oregon State University, we have observed Holocaust Memorial Week every year since 1987. This program grows from the belief that educational institutions can do much to combat prejudice of all kinds, and to foster respect for the diversity that is America, by promoting an awareness of the Holocaust, perhaps the most horrific historical indicator of the high cost of prejudice. It is particularly important to teach young people about the Holocaust, so that coming generations will not forget the lessons that a preceding one learned at such cost. This emphasis recalls the motto of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: "For the dead and the living, we must bear witness."  Learn more about all events at https://holocaust.oregonstate.edu/

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