#305 - WE ARE LILLIAN BERLINER AND THE ULTIMATE COMEBACK FROM THE HOLOCAUST

We Are Superman

In January, 2022, episode #187, we brought to you the story of Holocaust survivor Lili Berliner. It is to this day, our episode with the highest number of downloads. We recently lost Lili at the age of 97, and I thought, in a first for the WASP, that we should replay this episode both for those of you who heard it earlier, as well as for those who have joined us more recently. It seems needed in this troubled time in the world that has seen a growing tide of antisemitism and hate. Lili’s story of survival is incredible. Her family was yanked from their home in Transylvania when she was a teenager and shoved into a ghetto that was merely a converted warehouse, along with thousands of others. The Nazis then shipped all of them in a suffocatingly cramped train car to Auschwitz, where her father was immediately killed. Lili, all five feet-nothing of her and her mother against all odds somehow survived the hell of Auschwitz, only to be forced into a death march - barely clothed in frigid winter weather - on which three-quarters of the prisoners perished. They arrived at a labor camp where they craftily survived. Lili was already fluent in seven languages as a teenager, and she used this as a survival skill. When liberated from the infamous Bergen-Belsen by British troops, her mother weighed all of 60 pounds. The Allies used Lili’s language expertise to extract confessions from German guards to use at their war trials.

But this is a story of hope. Lili met her husband Walter, one of the Ritchie Boys, who were German-speaking Austrians who joined the U.S. Army and provided the bulk of intelligence to the Allies during the war. They were married in the first Jewish ceremony in Germany following the war. The couple moved to the U.S. and settled in Queens, New York, and raised a family, including my college roommate at the University of Pennsylvania, Steve. Because the Nazis had interrupted her education, Lili went back and got her high school diploma at age 55, and three years later received a nursing degree. She gave back to others in the medical field until she finally retired at age 85. Along the way, I can attest that she was the warmest, kindest person you would ever meet and a loving mother and grandmother, so amazing for someone who’d seen such horrors. To quote her, “Living well is the greatest revenge.” After listening to this, I encourage you to read her riveting memoir, “And the Month was May,” which you can find on Amazon. Please listen along and be amazed by this incredible survival story.
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Bill Stahl
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