Community members and students at Liberty-Benton got to learn about the Holocaust from a local survivor.

Martin Lowenberg is a Jewish man born in Germany in 1928 and saw firsthand how the Nazi’s treated people.

Mr. Lowenberg told the groups, “Whatever you have heard so far, whatever you have read or studied, I can only tell you that it was worse.”

Mr. Lowenberg stated that the Nazis had spread propaganda and hate, turning neighbors against neighbors and allowing crimes to take place against people, specifically of the Jewish faith.

He talked about how hard life was in the camps adding that they were just slaves and each had a job they were expected to keep up on.

Mr. Lowenberg had to use a shovel to keep all of the streets clean of dirt and snow while he was in the Ghetto in Latvia.

During this time he lost his parents and two younger brothers at Auschwitz.

Mr. Lowenberg said he was also put on a 75-mile death march and was finally liberated by the Russians in 1945.

He was 17 and weighed 76 pounds.

After he was healthy he immigrated to the U.S. and eventually made his way to Northwest Ohio.

He said the Nazi’s got away with what they had done for so long because of the hate that they had spread and urged both groups to focus on love in their lives.