[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 17 (Monday, January 27, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E87]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IOWAN OF THE WEEK--DAVID WOLNERMAN IN RECOGNITION OF INTERNATIONAL 
                       HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY

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                           HON. CYNTHIA AXNE

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 27, 2020

  Mrs. AXNE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor David Wolnerman, a 
survivor of Auschwitz, Birkenau, and Dachau--and Iowa's last known 
Holocaust survivor--in recognition of International Holocaust 
Remembrance Day.
   Those extraordinary men and women, like David, who survived the 
Holocaust have blessed us by sharing their stories and memorializing 
their experiences for future generations so that we never forget. 
Today, I am entering just part of David's story into the Congressional 
Record so it may be preserved for our children and their children. 
David was born in Poland. When the Nazis invaded, David was just 13 
years old. He was told he needed to report to a work camp in order to 
save his family, including his mother, Hannah, his brother, Abraham, 
and his sister, Gertrude. The promise was a false one, as David's 
family would not survive.
  When David first arrived in Auschwitz, he waited in line like so many 
others did--awaiting an uncertain fate. Some were selected to go left, 
some selected to go right. David says that God gave him the right words 
to say that he was 18 years old, and he was sent to the right. Had he 
told the truth, that he was 13 instead of 18, he would have been sent 
left with the younger children and those who were ill to be sent to the 
gas chamber. David's survival was a miracle. He contacted illnesses 
like typhus. He was so starved that he weighed 80 pounds when he was 
liberated on April 29, 1945.
   After liberation, he lived in a displaced persons camp in Germany 
where he met his wife, Jennie. Together, they began to physically 
recover from the malnourishment, but the mental scars of concentration 
camps have never left David.
   David and Jennie came to America in 1950. They didn't speak English 
but began working at a printing plant. When they had their two sons, 
Michael and Allen, all David and Jennie wanted for them was a good 
education. Both Allen and Michael went to Drake University in Des 
Moines for pharmacy school, and their parents followed them to Iowa. In 
2016, Jennie passed away at age 91. She often shared her memories with 
Iowa schoolchildren, working to ensure that her story--and the stories 
of her friends and family who perished--would live on. Jennie is 
remembered for her loving and generous spirit, her matzo ball soup, and 
as a loving grandmother and mother. Now David remains the last 
Holocaust survivor in Iowa.
   Jennie and David have shared their stories and wisdom with Iowans 
for years. We must honor them in return by sharing their stories and 
taking this day to remember the atrocities of the Holocaust. We must 
remember those who survived, and those who did not. We must remember 
the sacrifices made by children, just like David.

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