[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Pages 6147-6148]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO ALTER WIENER

 Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, I want to take a few minutes today 
to honor Alter Wiener, a selfless Oregonian who endured the horrors of 
the Holocaust

[[Page 6148]]

and has shared his powerful story with countless students and adults. I 
would like to share his story with the Senate so that my colleagues can 
hear how he survived the Nazi atrocities and came to live in Hillsboro, 
OR, teaching young men and women in my home State the dangers of 
intolerance and exclusion.
  Alter Wiener's story begins more than 90 years ago in the Polish town 
of Chrzanow, where he was born on October 8, 1926. Like many Jewish 
children, he attended both public and religious school and was taught 
the importance of family and faith. What was a happy childhood ended 
abruptly when the Nazis invaded his hometown in September of 1939. Mr. 
Wiener fled with his mother and siblings, but his father, forced to 
stay behind, was ultimately murdered by the Germans.
  Barred from practicing his faith or attending school, Mr. Wiener was 
eventually ripped from his home in the middle of the night and deported 
to Blechhammer, a forced labor camp. He saw and experienced 
unimaginable horrors as he was moved from labor camp to labor camp, 
spending 3 long years in five concentration camps. When the Russian 
Army freed him in May 1945, he weighed only 80 pounds.
  Mr. Wiener made his way to New York City, where he joined his 
cousins, the only other members of a family that numbered 123 to 
survive the Nazi atrocities. In New York, he worked tirelessly to 
rebuild his life, earning his high school diploma at age 38 and then a 
degree from Brooklyn College. He got married, started a family, and 
worked as an accountant. Through it all, he rarely spoke of surviving 
the Holocaust or the atrocities he had witnessed and endured. He says 
now that he simply didn't feel others would understand.
  In 2000, Mr. Wiener moved to Hillsboro, OR. The Oregon Holocaust 
Resource Center asked him to share his story, and, though he hesitated 
at first, he ultimately agreed to speak at Century High School. To his 
surprise, Mr. Wiener received hundreds of letters from students 
thanking him for changing their lives.
  Mr. Wiener has since gone on to volunteer his time and energy to 
Holocaust education, giving more than 850 presentations to a wide range 
of audiences. In 2007, he published his autobiography ``64735: From a 
Name to a Number,'' detailing his harrowing experiences under the Nazi 
regime and his life thereafter.
  Many of my colleagues have heard me talk about my own family's 
experience: how my parents fled Nazi Germany, how not everybody made it 
out, how we lost family in Kristallnacht and at Theresienstadt. 
Tolerance and inclusiveness are issues the Wydens take very seriously. 
That is why it is so special for me to be able to pay tribute to Alter 
Wiener today and to honor his work.
  There is a concept in Judaism called tikkun olam, which means to 
repair the world. Truly, I can think of no bigger way to describe Alter 
Wiener's work than repairing the world. Every time he shares his story, 
more people understand the horrors of Nazi persecution and the 
inhumanity of the Holocaust. People also understand the importance of 
tolerance, pluralism, and inclusion, and they see the power of the 
human spirit to endure.
  Today I offer my deepest affection and a heartfelt thank you to Alter 
Wiener for using your voice to teach generations to come to never, ever 
forget.

                          ____________________