State honors local Holocaust survivors

State Rep. David Faulkner presented a joint state House and Senate resolution remembering the Holocaust and honoring local survivors April 14 at the Capitol in Montgomery.

Of the five honored, two, Max Steinmetz and Ruth Siegler, are Mountain Brook residents. Others honored were Max Herzel, Riva Hersch and Leonid Shilkrot

“What an honor it was to meet them and hear their stories,” Faulkner said. “In the middle of my presentation, following the governor's talk, I mentioned I had been to the Dachau Concentration Camp many years ago, and one of the survivors immediately looked at me and grabbed my arm and told me he was in Dachau.  I wanted to hug him right then as my heart sunk, and I was stunned to say the least. I put my arm on him as I tried to continue with my presentation. We must always remember and never forget this great tragedy of humanity and the people who were lost because of it, as well as those that survived.”

Faulkner is also a member of the Alabama Holocaust Commission and said its President Dan Puckett and former Commission President Phyllis Weinstein made the event possible. Faulkner said Weinstein is the mother of his high school English teacher, Ms. Raviv.