The annual Helen and Leon Sperling Holocaust Observance will be held on Tuesday, April 25, at 7:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Center, 2310 Oneida St., Utica.
We invite you to listen to Peter Somogyi, who was a young teen during the Holocaust. In 1944, Peter’s mother and her children were deported to Auschwitz, arriving after being packed in cattle cars for four days. She kept Peter and his twin brother, Thomas, with her until, finally, hoping to save their lives, she gave them to Dr. Mengele for use in his research. It was the last time the 11-year-old boys saw their mother or their sister.
Peter, his brother and other male twins lived in one of the barracks. Just outside was a crematorium where bodies, stacked like logs, waited to be burned. Somogyi believes that because Mengele needed the twins for his experiments, he allowed them to live. But even so, there were no guarantees, only brutal experiments. Years later, Mr. Somogyi has much to offer his audience. Join us for an enlightening evening.