The Interview
First of all, I would like to tell how extraordinary my interview with Israel (Alfred) Glück was. I did not even imagine how interesting this person is. His story is one of a kind, and I am very pleased that I have heard it.
Before I set the meeting between us, I was told that Israel wrote a book which tells his story and what happened to him before and during the Holocaust. I achieved to get the book and started reading it. From that moment on, I was addicted to the story. I finished the book in short time and made an appointment with Mr. Glück to hear the rest of the story from first-hand. The summary of the meeting is in front of you.
Israel (previous name: Alfred) Glück (pronounced: "Glick") was born in 22/6/1921 in Austria, to Rafi and Rachel. He had one brother- Max (Mordechai) and one sister, Lia.
Israel and his brother went to "Agudath Israel" school in Vienna.
His sister, Lia, went to a separated school for girls.
His brother was born in 2/2/192. When the war begun, in 1938, he was sent in the "Kindertransport" (the rescue mission to save Jewish children from Nazi Germany) to The United Kingdom, and so he saved.
His sister, along with his parents, was sent to Minsk and died in the extermination camp there.
And for Israel – his story begins in Vienna, his hometown. When he and his work-mates heard about the nearing of Nazi Germany to Austria and the "planes" for Jews around Europe they decided to escape. After training the escape, they managed to get on a train that drives to the Swiss border, and to infiltrate to Switzerland. But Israel and his friend, Judah, got caught on the way and brought to jail. From there, they were sent to a secondary camp of Auschwitz. They spend two hard years in there, which concluded Israel's infection in his leg and a long stay at the local hospital that helped Israel to get food and survive for a while. He started drawing while his stay at the hospital and one of the Capo of the camp loved his drawings. From then on, Israel did works for the Capo and the camp itself, and got food and good treatment in return.
Toward the end of
World War II in 1944, as the UK and the US moved in on the concentration camps from the west, the Soviet Union was advancing from the east. The Germans decided to abandon the camps and move the prisoners. Those were called the Death Marches. Israel and his friend were in the Death March that took place from Auschwitz. In the end, he was saved by a Moroccan unit of Frances' army in south Germany, 50 km from the place he was first caught… Israel lost Judah on the way and they never met again since then. Israel doesn't even know if Judah is alive or not. With the army unit he moved to Hamburg, near the English area. He had indecision whether to go back to Denmark or to go to the UK to search for his brother. Meanwhile he started to work and draw again. The Jewish Brigade, who searched for Holocaust survivors found him and sent him with more survivors to Israel in illegal ships. The ship brought him to Haifa, Israel, and from there he was sent to Atlit to a transfer-camp and than to Glil-Yam kibbutz in Herzliya.
He met his wife in 1949 in Israel, when she worked in Kfar Shmaryahu. They moved together to Nof Yam, and from there they moved to Kfar-Sava, to dwell in the The Mediterranean Towers protected retirement homes until now. They have no kids.
Vienna
Vienna is the capital city of Austria.
About 1.6 million people live in it and it's the largest city in all Austria, also the cultural, economic and political center.
From 1938 until the end of Second World War, Vienna wasn't the capital anymore, and Berlin took its place.
Vienna was an important center of Jewish culture and education. It was also a Zionist center, and even Theodor Herzl studied at the University of Vienna.
In March 1938 Austria was 'conquered' by Hitler Germany and stopped to exist as a independent state. Most of Vienna's Jewish population was driven away or exterminated.
The Soviet forces liberated Vienna on April 4, 1945.
