Oldest Holocaust survivor tells a story of faith and courage that's out of the ordinary
Leopold Engleitner endured the Holocaust. His long life since has inspired others.
from the December 1, 2008 edition
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Rammerstorfer, too, had hurdles to overcome in retelling Engleitner's story. When no publisher came forward, he published the book with his own money.
"In the face of our historical responsibility, I am sparing no effort to document the crimes of the Nazi regime," he says.
But his real motive in writing the book was to share Engleitner's ideals of tolerance, humanity, and respect for others.
That message wasn't lost at the book fair in Frankfurt. "It's a great lesson to feel it's possible for a human being to be free inside when you're oppressed," says Svetlana Protsenko of Moscow, who had left her own stand at the fair to hear Engleitner talk.
"For people who have suffered from totalitarian regimes," she says, "it's important to ... keep your beliefs, ideas, and moral standards."
A transformative response
Today Engleitner experiences a new kind of response to his unwavering faith.
In St. Wolfgang, he became a bit of a local celebrity. The Austrian government, too, took notice, inviting him to tour schools and universities to share his story and talk about nonviolent resistance to oppression.
At 97, he undertook the 500-mile journey to speak to an audience in Wewelsburg, where he had been interned more than 50 years before.
And two years ago, Rammerstorfer and Engleitner toured the United States, drawing crowds at Columbia University in New York and at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, among other places.
Although Engleitner says he is not bitter about all that he has endured, the honors he has received over the past few years have restored his faith in people.
"They transformed me from a persecuted, despised, concentration-camp internee and a cowardly conscientious objector to a completely rehabilitated man who is even regarded as an example to others," he says.
"In the past, this would have been unthinkable," Engleitner adds. "That people's attitudes should change so dramatically is something I would never have believed possible."
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