92-year-old Holocaust survivor from Long Island says parents made courageous decision when Nazis arrested family
GLEN COVE, N.Y. -- On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, fewer and fewer survivors are alive to personally share what they witnessed.
Manny Korman of Great Neck, a child during the reign of terror, credits his parents for giving him the gift of life.
"I think about them every day," said Korman, now 92.
As the family of four was forced out of Germany, Korman's parents made a courageous decision as the Nazis moved in.
"They arrested us on October 28, [19]38, took us to the local police station, then took us to the Hamburg jail. They separated fathers and husbands from wives and children," said Korman.
Korman's father was sent to a concentration camp, but his parents made a pledge that would save their two young sons' lives.
"The military was in back of us, the German military, moving us along," said Korman, who was just 6 at the time, but his memory remains vivid.
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England agreed to harbor Jewish minors during the war.
"To put her children on that train and not knowing if she'll ever see them again," said Korman.
Once in London, Christians kept them safe in the countryside.
"They were just superb human beings who took us in," said Korman.
Korman shared his harrowing past with schoolchildren at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center in Glen Cove.
With a steadily declining number of Holocaust survivors, historians say it's increasingly important to memorialize their stories.
"Time is running out and we need to take advantage of every opportunity that comes our way," said Zachary Graulich, with the Nassau County Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center.
Separately, the Korman parents and children survived the atrocities of the Holocaust. The family reunited in America thanks to an uncle in Brooklyn.
Korman said, after being apart from 1939-1946, "we became a family again."