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Kasriel K. Eilender, M.D.

THE BARBER OF GOERLITZ - A MEMOIR

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My American cousin

Major Stanley Gould

drove me to

Nuremberg

where I spent a day

at the Trials.

The American Joint Distribution Committee was a very well known, effective and helpful Jewish organization, which tried to bring in order and hope among former concentration camp inmates. Also, a Jewish community committee was formed, which was recognized by the American military authorities, as well as by the German administration of Bavaria. Last but not least, we created a Jewish student organization that was run by democratic rules with a president, vice president and secretary as well as a council.

This organization was very effective and helpful in dealing with the local German authorities regarding living quarters for students, and many other problems, which were solved most of the time in a satisfactory fashion. Also, they dealt very successfully with the Bavarian Ministry of Education regarding the admission of eligible students to different faculties including medicine, dentistry and Technische Hoch Schule (Technical School of Higher Education), which had a very good world reputation.

We also had about three subsidized restaurants for Jewish students. There was no tuition at any of the schools for former victims who had been persecuted by the Nazi regime.

I would like to emphasize that the German professors basically had sympathy for us, treated us fairly and nicely and respected us. This could be attributed to the will, determination and the emotional strength we exhibited in pursuing our goal in education and our hope for a better future. All students from all the faculties were working very hard to graduate, to have a profession and start a new life.

At the end of July 1946, my cousin Major Stanley Gould picked me up and drove me to his station in Nuremberg where the famous trial of the Nazi war criminals was taking place.

On July 31, an American lieutenant took me to the Palace of Justice with a pass. I spent the day at the trial. It was for me a very emotional and unforgettable event. Among the other thoughts I had while sitting there was how lucky I was in having a second chance when 55 million people had perished during the Second World War. I had made my way from the ghetto of Slonim and the camp of Mogilev among others to this Palace of Justice.

As time went on, the living conditions in Munich improved for us as well as for the German population. My relatives in the USA had already been able to contact me by letter. They used to send me some money and packages of clothing.

I always wanted to be a doctor and to me everybody who needed help as well as counseling was equal regardless of origin or any other considerations. While I was in the clinical semesters, I had a patient in the clinic, who was a very sick man. He had Bright’s disease, which means very high blood pressure with chronic, basically fatal kidney involvement. He was a former SS officer. When he was ready to be discharged, he want- ed that only the Jewish student to take him home. I explained to him that I was very poor, I had no car, and even if I had one at this point, I did not know how to drive. Well, I brought him home by taxi.

Following this, he started to visit me. He used to cook for me, and his final request was that I should be present at his autopsy and attend his funeral. I complied in all of this.

Strange are the ways of destiny. In anticipation of my immigrating someday to the USA, I started to take English lessons from a former German officer who was stationed in Minsk, White Russia.

On many occasions, different people from all walks of life had questioned me. Why is it that after the war I did not mind studying in Germany? The answer is very simple, obvious and sad. Eastern Europe including Poland was the biggest cemetery of our people.

However, the majority of my countrymen still remained hostile to us Jews, making a return to Poland very difficult, if not impossible. Also nobody was there whom I loved and missed.

The most frequent and typical question asked of Jews returning to Eastern Europe was: “How is it that you are still alive and what are you doing here?” It is understandable that most of us did not want to be subjected to this kind of environment of hate and contempt. So, frankly, I felt much more safe and comfortable in postwar Germany.

Among the letters from my uncles and cousins, the most poignant were the letters from my grandmother. She could hardly wait to see me. Unfortunately, she died before I arrived.

Many of my colleagues from the university arrived in the USA be-fore me, and only a few after me. Yet we continued to consider ourselves as an adopted family, since our experiences during the war, as well as the hardships it took to make it as students, brought us closer together.

These feelings have continued to the present day.

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