[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15287]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO ABRAHAM WEINRIB

 Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, Columbus, OH, the State's 
capital city, is home to more than 710,000 Ohioans who trace their 
heritage from a mix of races, religions, and ethnicities. Many Columbus 
residents can trace their heritage back to Germany, Italy, and England. 
Neighborhoods like German Village, Italian Village and Victorian 
Village are examples of places these new Americans created in the early 
20th century.
  Recent waves of immigration have brought men and women from Somalia, 
Vietnam, and Mexico to the city and our State.
  Throughout the demographic changes to Columbus, there remains one 
small community that continues to draw from the strength of their 
shared experiences.
  Mr. President, 217 Holocaust survivors reside in the city of Columbus 
and its suburbs from Bexley to New Albany. Among the unforgettable 
stories told by these heroic men and women is 97-year-old Abraham 
Weinrib, of the Berwick neighborhood, southeast of Columbus.
  Mr. Weinrib's journey from hardship to hope began in 1939 when he and 
his family were forced from their home in Lodz, Poland. After being 
forcefully removed from his home in Lodz, he fled to Warsaw, Poland, 
where on September 6, 1939 at the age of 25 Mr. Weinrib was arrested by 
the Nazi's.
  For the next 5\1/2\ years, he was sent to a total of nine 
concentration camps.
  In Hanover, Germany, he was a slave laborer at the Continental rubber 
factory, where he made tires for Nazis to use against the Allied 
troops.
  At Bergen-Belsen, he was forced to drag dead prisoners to a ditch to 
be buried in mass graves.
  On April 14, 1945, Mr. Weinrib, weak with typhus, fell asleep on top 
of one of these mass graves. That night, he woke up from the open grave 
and stumbled into nearby barracks. There he found English troops 
liberating the camp.
  Unfortunately, Mr. Weinrib's parents, two older brothers, and most of 
his extended family were among the more than 6 million Jews who 
perished during the war.
  Mr. Weinrib spent the next year in a Swedish hospital recovering from 
years of starvation, beatings, and a gunshot to his forehead.
  After regaining his strength, Mr. Weinrib began to attend events 
through a Holocaust survivor's club in Sweden. There he met a young 
woman named Anna who was freed from Auschwitz in 1945. Together, they 
spent more than a year recovering in the hospital and several more 
years recovering at home in Sweden. By 1950, Anna and Abraham Weinrib 
married and had their first child, Ruth, in 1952.
  In 1954, after living with his sister Hela who also survived the war 
Mr. and Mrs. Weinrib left Stockholm and moved to Columbus where Mr. 
Weinrib's brother's Morrui and Chaim lived. In Columbus, Mr. Weinrib 
was hired by Sam Melton to work at a Capitol Supply factory. Mr. 
Weinrib quickly rose through the ranks from line-worker to manager. 
Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Weinrib raised three children, sending them to 
school and working hard to ensure they had every opportunity that was 
robbed from their own youth.
  Prior to Anna's passing in 1979, Mr. Weinrib rarely spoke of his 
experiences during the war. But since then, he uses his own experience 
to ensure that future generations never forget the tragedy of the 
Holocaust.
  Abraham Weinrib has become a fixture at the Jewish Community Center 
in Columbus and frequently speaks to students throughout the community. 
At one recent speaking engagement, a student asked Mr. Weinrib what his 
experiences during the Holocaust can teach younger generations. Without 
hesitation, he responded with his thick polish accent, that ``life is 
short; you have to be nice to each other.''
  Then, Mr. Weinrib referred to a heartbreaking experience he remembers 
during his time at Auschwitz. The Nazi's were separating prisoners into 
two lines, those who were old enough and healthy enough to work, and 
those who were not. One young mother was unwilling to be separated from 
her young daughter. Both were sent to the crematorium.
  Abraham Weinrib has seen firsthand what intolerance, prejudice, and 
hate can do to undermine our basic humanity. He talks about how unfair 
and challenging life can be but does not attribute his survival or the 
survival of three of his siblings to any sort of miracle. Instead, he 
attributes his survival to the ability to persevere.
  His own children have also used the strength of their father to 
succeed. The three Weinrib children--Bruce, Ruth, and Irene--overcame 
many of the hardships often faced by first-generation children: parents 
with a limited understanding of English, low paying jobs, and the 
feeling of being an outsider. By any measure, all three children have 
succeeded. Ruth and Bruce are both graduates of the Ohio State 
University. All three children have postsecondary degrees, and all have 
made Abe a proud grandfather of seven grandchildren.
  The impact Abraham Weinrib has had on his family and community is 
clear and the message he shares is powerful. Elie Wiesel said ``Not to 
transmit an experience is to betray it.'' Abraham Weinrib is helping to 
ensure that generations to come will learn his enduring lessons.
  Thank you, Abraham Weinrib, for all that you do to make our State and 
Nation live up to our highest ideals.

                          ____________________