Monday, September 5, 2016

Coffee with Max Kirschberg


 Max Kirschberg - September 3, 2016
Today, I had coffee with an amazing human - Max Kirschberg. He is a a holocaust survivor, who like many others lost his entire family and started from scratch at the age of 21, nothing to his name and mostly a nightmare of a childhood.
My brother Arie Akinin and I met him yesterday at the Jaccuzi. He is 91 years old. Speaks more than a handful of languages, father of 6, has visited Namibia (his ancestors founded Kirschberg Mountain) and has the kind of angelic personality that inspires us to be people of good.
Here are a few thoughts from Max!
Max was born February 13, 1925 in Breslau, Germany (now Poland). His father 'disappeared' during Kristallnacht, and his mother and sister Esther were separated from him and exterminated in concentration camps.
...about the biggest regret of his life.
"Not having had the chance to say good bye to my mother. We were brutally separated in a camp, and I never thought that would be the last time I'd see her eyes. I've often wanted to say good bye."
...about friendship.
"It was a tough concept to grasp during my time in the camps. One day you had a friend; the next he was not there."
...about forgiveness and hate.
"I forgive. I'd like to think I do. I can't hate. I don't know how to, and I don't think anyone should. Leaders spread hate, and the people follow. Hate is not something nations feel.
Hate consumes us. It takes over. I'd never want to feel it or pass it on to my grandkids."
...about being released from the concentration camps.
"I was in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. When the war was coming to an end, the Americans opened our camp.
I remember vividly, Captain Fichter stormed in and screamed: "who the hell speaks English here?".
I timidly answered, "I speak English, but not your kind of English" (I had learned British English in my childhood.
The captain, relieved, looked at me and asked "Do you have anyone left?".
I shook my head.
"Would you mind coming with us?", he asked.
I found my first job as a translator for a few years.
...about his first kiss.
"It was with a German girl in the town where I was translating."
(When I asked about being able to date someone from the same culture of the people who had murdered his whole family...)
"With women one can only feel special, I was able to feel things I had never felt before"
...about reconnecting with anyone from his family.
"The only family member I thought could be alive was my mother's brother Juan, who after being released from a prison during WW1 in Poland thanks to my mother's activism, he moved to Colombia. I had no way of finding his address, so I came up with a crazy idea...
I wrote a letter to the president of Colombia. Since I didn't speak Spanish, and I had learned Latin at an ear/ly age, I thought it would be best to write to a president in Latin. In the letter I mentioned I was looking for my uncle Juan, a polish Jew now living in his country. The president evidently received the letter, and in a month's time I had a response from my uncle!"
...about his proudest moment in life.
"Receiving a letter from my uncle. Feeling and knowing that I finally had a family despite everything I went through."
...about his trip to Colombia.
I flew Germany - Portugal - Dakar - Puerto Espana - Brazil - Caracas - Bogota! I arrived there in November 1946 at the age of 21!
...about the hardship of starting anew.
"It was a new beginning. Hard is what you don't want to do."
...about education.
"I wanted to study, but it cost a lot of money in Colombia, so I went back to Germany. I wanted to study medicine, but every time I saw blood I fainted. So I studied Organic Chemistry.
Then, I went to get a job, and they told me, "come back when you are a doctor". So I went to Switzerland and I got a PhD in Chemistry. I started my own dry cleaning soap manufacturing business and lived in Germany until the 1970's. I then moved again to Colombia!"
...about fear of death.
"I'm not afraid. Our system is to be born and to die. There's nothing in this world that isn't going to die. Unfortunately, religion has made it even tougher."
...about his favorite city.
"It's got to be Rome. I'm going there soon again with my son"


David Akinin, Max Kirschberg and Arie Akinin

2 comments:

  1. Awesome guy! Great story! Loved "hard is what you don't want to do"

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  2. Chico muy bueno, me gustaría contactar a Max Kirschberg para invitarlo a dar una conferencia a los jóvenes de mi Iglesia en Bogotá Colombia. Tu me podrías ayudar a contactarlo, te lo agradecería de corazón este es mi número en Colombia 3506431400 y 3217999108
    Gracias

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