Holocaust survivor running out of time to tell story, family says
Liam Britten | CBC News | Posted: September 13, 2016 8:19 PM | Last Updated: September 13, 2016
Peter Gary, 93, spent 23 years telling Vancouver Island students about surviving Nazi atrocities
The family of Holocaust survivor Peter Gary says the 93-year-old Victoria man is running out of time to tell his story.
Gary spent 23 years telling of his survival in three Nazi concentration camps to tens of thousands of Vancouver Island students. The composer also wrote an oratorio about his experiences.
He hoped to see it performed one day, but his wife, Judy Estrin, says Gary has spent the last 36 days in hospital and may not get the chance.
"He's very weak … he's had eight blood transfusions in the last few weeks," Gary's wife, Judy Estrin, told All Points West host Robyn Burns. "It's very tentative right now."
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Estrin says the family is working "on faith" to make the oratorio's premiere in Israel on Oct. 17 a reality.
If it is able to go forward, the hope is for Gary to make it to a local theatre to watch a broadcast of it.
"It was a promise I made to Peter when we got married that I would make this happen," she said.
"So I am desperate now to fulfil that wife promise, the only big promise I made to him when we got married. He promised me 10 years — we're at just under nine and a half — and I promised him this concert."
Money is the major obstacle for making the concert a reality. Estrin says it's a large production and will require $80,000 to stage. So far only $30,000 has been raised.
Estrin says, at this point, she's relying on "blind faith" and is desperately hoping to raise the remaining money online by Oct. 17.
With files from CBC Radio One's All Points West
To hear the full story, click the audio labelled: Holocaust survivor running out of time to tell story, family says