Holocaust survivor turning 100 reflects on atrocities, miracle of survival
MIAMI - There are about 38,000 Holocaust survivors in the US, with 3,000 in Florida, including a soon-to-be-100-year-old man named Jack Waksal. He shared his story of survival with CBS News Miami at the Miami Beach Holocaust Memorial.
Waksal reflected on the atrocities committed by the Nazis and the miracle of his survival.
CBS News Miami first met Waksal as he walked down the lonely path at the memorial, looking for the names of his loved ones murdered in the Holocaust.
"I can never forget my life, my father and mother," shared Waksal. "A good life I had with my brothers and sister all the time."
Waksal says his entire family was killed in the Holocaust.
"So sorry that I survived and you didn't," said Waksal.
He was born in Poland in 1924. By the time he was 15, the Nazis invaded his hometown and forced his family into ghettos and then labor camps.
"If some survived, it was a miracle," said Waksal.
Waksal describes the horrors of digging graves solely to watch the Nazis bury children alive.
"Threw them in the graves without bullets, without nothing but to put sand over them," recalled Waksal.
Waksal remembers entering his first labor camp in January of 1940.
"Five, six times, I was under the gun to be killed," said Waksal.
Staring at the reflection pond at the memorial, he recalled a daring escape in 1941 when Nazis told him to kneel by a grave with his friend.
"Before they are going to take us to kill, let's grab this officer," Waksal remembered saying to his friend. "Fighting a few minutes. I jumped over the other side grave and I ran in the forest our whole night."
But he ended up back in a labor camp, surviving four camps during the Holocaust before his final escape in September of 1944.
He would go on to marry his wife, who was an Auschwitz survivor. He moved to the United States in 1950, has three kids, and has 17 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"If Hitler would [have] survive[d], he would kill himself," said Waksal. "He couldn't believe it. What happened that some Jewish people, what they give to the world."
Waksal's greatest gift, his life, and his Jewish family. He turns 100 on September 15th. Over the weekend, the Marlins honored him. His grandson was by his side.
"Show the world that we are never gonna give it up," said Waksal.
A 100-year ride that continues to inspire the next generation.