Don't let history repeat itself, says Holocaust survivor speaking in Saskatoon

More than 70 years ago, Bill Glied and his family were forced into cattle cars and taken by rail to a Nazi concentration camp.

Within minutes of arriving he was separated from his mother, grandmother and eight-year-old sister. He never saw them again.

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Now 87, Glied is speaking in Saskatoon this week to share his experiences with school children and the general public.

Glied will be speaking at the Holocaust Memorial at the Congregation Audas Israel synagogue in Saskatoon on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. CST. 

His story begins with a happy childhood in a well-educated, middle-class Jewish family in Yugoslavia.

But that changed in 1941, when Germany occupied his country and Hungary took control of his region. 

I never expected at this age that I would see the world turning again,- Holocaust survivor Bill Glied

Glied's father insisted he keep going to school, which he believes was the right thing to do. But it was not easy being one of just four remaining Jewish children in his classes.

"Going to school was really a nightmare because I was bullied and kicked and made a fool of all the time, and the teachers never reprimanded the kids that did that," he said.

A fateful day 

Glied was just 13 when he and his family were loaded into cattle cars, a type of railway carriage, and sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

He and his father were selected to become slave labourers when they arrived at the camp. He never saw his mother, sister or grandmother again.

"I kept holding onto my dad because I didn't know what was going to happen, so it was a terrible experience," said Glied.

Glied said they were sent to Germany to build an underground factory. Despite the hard work, they were malnourished and constantly hungry.  

If it wasn't for his father looking out for him, Glied said he wouldn't be alive to share his story today.

"He tried to protect me, he made sure that I [had] the easiest job if it was possible and, frankly, he gave me his last piece of bread," he said.

Glied's father died from typhoid fever nine days before the prisoners were liberated.

Learn from the past, says Glied

Now, as a public speaker, his message is to speak up, remember the past and prevent history from repeating itself.

"I keep on saying that [young people] must listen to the history that was passed, because if they don't remember the history, the history is going to come back to them," said Glied.

He added that he was saddened by today's world events.

"I never expected at this age that I would see the world turning again," said Glied.

"I'm studying history all the time and what is happening now is so reminiscent of what was happening in Europe in the 1930s."