A 101-year-old Holocaust survivor, who was in 12 Nazi concentration camps during World War II, will visit Nashville and share his story at Chabad of Nashville. The event, “Evening with Joseph Alexander,” will be held on June 18.
His name is Joseph Alexander and he has a century of life under his belt. Some of those years were spent deprived of freedom, dignity, and nearly his very life. “God has kept me here so I can tell people what happened,” Alexander said. He is the only member of his immediate family to live through the Holocaust.
“This is a very special opportunity for us all to hear this story, to personally hear the story of survival,” said Rabbi Yitzchok Tiechtel of the Chabad Jewish Center of Nashville. “Somebody who survived the worst time in our history, the worst time in our memory.”
After the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, Alexander, then 16 years old, his mother, father and five brothers and sisters were forced to go to the Warsaw Ghetto, where he saw people dying in the streets. Later he was forced to go to Auschwitz and other concentration camps where he barely escaped death and had to do hard labor with hardly any food.
One night, Alexander and others were selected by Mengele to form two lines. Alexander was forced to go in the left line with children and the weak and sick, who were going to be taken by truck to Auschwitz. He ran back to the other line and walked to the camp. “If I hadn’t run to the other line, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “The people in the other line went to the gas chamber.”
Alexander became separated from his family and never saw them again. But he survived and for the last eight decades has made it his mission to speak to whomever will listen. He describes what happened during the darkest times of the second world war, and how he was somehow able to survive, giving a voice to genocide for the millions who died.
“We need to remember there’s not many opportunities left where we can meet somebody who survived the concentration camps, somebody who survived Auschwitz, there’s not many opportunities left for us,” Rabbi Tiechtel expressed.
The event with Joe Alexander will take place on Tuesday, June 18, 7:00 PM, at Chabad of Nashville, 95 Bellevue Road. Tickets can be purchased at joealexandernashville.com or by Calling Chabad at 615-646-5750.
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