From Our Archives: Holocaust Remembrance Day
By Katie Vogel
From Katie Vogel, Henry Street Settlement public historian:
Today, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, we share a letter from the family archive of Daniel Schack, a member of Henry Street Settlement’s Community Consultation Center.
Daniel’s family emigrated from Poland to New York City in 1920, part of the mass exodus of Jewish people from the Russian Empire who sought safety and opportunity in America. A generation later, during World War II, Daniel had both family members who died in the Holocaust and an uncle, Aaron Lester—an American soldier—who fought against the Nazis in Europe. On August 29, 1944, immediately following the liberation of Paris by the Allied forces, Aaron Lester wrote a letter to his younger brother describing the parade through the streets of Paris:
“Between tears and laughter, I saw a people liberated after four years of suffering; when we halted, everyone surrounded us from small children to old men covered our vehicles trying to show us the great joy they were feeling…everything they expressed seemed to them so little, and to us, it seemed the greatest day of our li[ves].”
Aaron went on to help liberate the Dachau concentration camp in early 1945. After the war, he returned to New York City, got married and had three daughters. He drove a yellow cab in New York City for three decades. Here is Aaron Lester’s letter as well as Daniel’s explanation of it in his own words.
From Daniel Schack, a member of Henry Street Settlement’s Community Consultation Center.
January 2020
The enclosed letter was written by my uncle Aaron Lester in his 24th year in 1944 after having served in the Normandy invasion and then liberating Paris, France with the American Army. He later was involved in the liberation of Dachau concentration camp in Germany.
Our family had losses in Treblinka. Aaron passed away at age 94 in New York State. His letter was to his younger, by two years, brother Abe serving in the Pacific theater. I am Aaron’s nephew, his kid sister’s son, Daniel Schack. I’m an artist/poet and can be seen on facebook and poetrysoup.com.
I attend Henry Street clinic at 40 Montgomery Street in N.Y. City. Thank you.
