Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Eva Ackermann - December 6, 1982

Um, is there anything at all that you want to say to add to this?

In what respect?

Anything.

I don't know. I um, I uh, hope, I hope that uh, I believe in God. Uh, and I hope that uh, for whatever reasoning he had to do what he did, that he's not going to do it again because it's just uh, they say that God doesn't give you more that you can take, but I feel that here He made an exception because six million people couldn't take it. He just, He just gave them too much and I hope he never does it again and I hope that my kids will be able to live in a society where uh, where nothing like this is even going to uh, not, not just for, for them, for the whole human race. I think, I think that uh, I don't know, I think uh, George Bernard Shaw uh, put it very well when he said, I think he said it, that uh, "A human is the only animal who blushes and needs to." So I hope nothing is a for uh, their sake and uh, for humanity that uh, that's the only thing that I can uh, you know when I light the candle and I do pray uh, the rabbi says that uh, the soul lives on until you remember the departed soul. So I do pray for their uh, for the, for my family that perished and my husband's and uh, there was something that I wanted to bring out with the--you want to stop the filming?

[interruption in interview]

I mean that I, not only do I pray for their souls and I'm not a religious person, I uh, I really am not, but I do believe that there is something, some uh, that really gives and takes, so I, I just, I just--every Friday afternoon, when I light those candles and I'm through with uh, with wishing for the souls of my family that I pray for uh, just, just peace anywhere and everywhere.

That's a good place to end it.

Yeah, I think uh, I think that would be, everything else would be--every other problem would be solved. That's the key to the whole human race is to survive. Reason I've waited, peace.

Thank you very much for your time.

Well, I could say it was, uh....