THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1999

Holocaust survivor recalls pain, hate

By Nicole Martinez

On-Line Forty-Niner

On the one week anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre, one man who lived through another massacre shared his experiences with Cal State Long Beach students.

Holocaust survivor David Faber poured his heart out to students in the Small Auditorium of the University Student Union on Tuesday.

"I'm lucky to be alive. I'm considered one of the luckiest survivors in the world," said the 72-year-old Faber.

After witnessing the murder of his parents and six of his siblings, Faber, at age 13, was sent to eight different concentration camps. Faber was forced to spend his teen years punching holes in poison gas cans as the Nazis killed thousands.

Faber said a favorite pastime for the Nazis was a brutal sport of tying the arms and legs of babies together, tossing them in the air and catching them on sharp bayonets.

Faber said he was also ordered to take jewelry and gold teeth fillings from dead bodies as they came out of gas chambers. He said the Nazis were so barbaric that they dug huge ditches, threw prisoners in them and burned them alive.

The camps Faber lived in included Buchenwald and Auschwitz-Birkenenau. After the liberation of his eighth concentration camp, Bergen-Belsen, Faber, at the age of 19, weighed 72 pounds.

Farber said he relates the violence at Columbine High School to the terror he experienced as a child during the war.

"The problem was and the problem still is hate," said Faber. "There is too much hate in the world."

When the Columbine high school shooting occurred, Faber told his wife he knew there was a reason behind the madness.

"I looked at the calendar and it was Hitler's birthday. Our kids are being brainwashed with hate and look at what the result is," Faber said.

Faber expressed concern for the growing families and churches in our own country that are teaching hate. He said he feels it is up to America to set an example for the rest of the world.

Faber said that 92 percent of the 2,422 concentration camps were in Poland.

Faber pleaded with the audience to be tolerant and understanding.

"You are the future and unless you learn to respect each others opinion, you're going to destroy each other, mark my words. I know what I'm talking about," he said.