[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 8, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S65-S66]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                        REMEMBERING OTTO DELIKAT

 Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, today, with a heavy heart, I 
wish to pay tribute to Otto Delikat, a remarkable role model, survivor, 
and family man. Mr. Delikat passed away on December 23, 2018 at the age 
of 96.

[[Page S66]]

  His life was similar to many of the Jewish faith during that era, an 
ordinary man with extraordinary spirit and indefatigable will to 
survive. He will be remembered for his outstanding commitment to his 
communities and readiness to share his experiences in order to promote 
freedom and democracy.
  Mr. Delikat was born in Vienna, Austria, where he grew up with his 
father, stepmother, brother, and two sisters. As a young man, he worked 
on a farm in Germany, where his family's religion was not known. When 
World War II began, he returned to Vienna. With his father already in a 
labor camp, a 17-year-old Mr. Delikat volunteered to go to the same 
camp. He and about a dozen others from the labor camp were sent to work 
in a brick factory.
  One of the men working with him in the labor camp escaped, which 
resulted in the rest of their group getting locked up in prison for a 
year. When the prison sentence ended, Mr. Delikat and the other Jewish 
prisoners were handed over to the Gestapo and sent to concentration 
camps.
  Mr. Delikat spent just under a year in the Flossenburg concentration 
camp. Then, in October 1942, he and the other 16 people left with him 
were transported to Auschwitz. He was imprisoned there for around a 
year, working some of this time as part of a labor squad tasked with 
going through the luggage people took with them when they arrived on 
transports. After the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, he and about 
3,000 other prisoners went to clean up the wreckage. Despite falling 
ill from the typhoid epidemic that killed over half of the inmates 
during their first winter in Warsaw, Mr. Delikat survived.
  Eventually, the SS evacuated the prisoners in 1944, not even half of 
whom survived the several days' long march when their attempts to run 
toward water led to machinegun fire. Those who made it to the cattle 
cars, including Mr. Delikat, then went to Dachau. Mr. Delikat was soon 
relocated to another concentration camp in southern Germany, where he 
met a civilian who helped him pass letters to and from Vienna. Thanks 
to the kindness of this civilian, he learned his father was still 
alive.
  After liberation, Mr. Delikat spent several months working for the 
American counterintelligence corps tracking down members of the SS in 
hiding in order to bring them to justice. During his time in the 
displaced persons camp, he met and married his wife, and they had their 
first child. The family moved to America, thanks to support from his 
wife's aunt, where Mr. Delikat quickly found work and they welcomed 
their second child.
  When asked about how he survived, Mr. Delikat emphasized he ``always 
looked for tomorrow.'' He did not think about the days that would 
follow, but instead focused on the hope he would make it through the 
current day and wake up the next. He also said his experiences 
throughout the Holocaust led him to become active in Jewish 
communities, including 50 years at the Oceanside Jewish Center. He 
served as chairman of the temple's House committee, was named their man 
of the year in 1994, joined the men's club, and served on the Holocaust 
committee.
  Mr. Delikat considered it of the utmost importance to share his 
experiences with others. He recognized his story and the stories of 
fellow survivors would be lost if not told. He liked to talk about what 
he went through at every available opportunity, emphasizing the 
positive ideals of our Nation by underlining the importance of living 
in a free and equal society.
  My wife Cynthia and I extend our deepest sympathies to Otto's family 
during this difficult time, particularly to his two children, Janet and 
Michael, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. May their 
many wonderful memories of Otto provide them solace and comfort in the 
days ahead.

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