My great grandparents and grandmother were living in Austria at the time of the Holocaust when Hitler marched into Vienna. My grandmother (who was 11 at the time) told me she came out of school one day and the entire street was filled with Nazi flags. Through a series of events they wound up in Italy. I suppose you can consider them very fortunate because my great grandfather was placed in an Italian camp. The Italian camps were nothing like German and Polish camps in their treatment of prisoners. He was given a small amount of allowance, daily meals and was permitted to leave everyday provided he return at a determined time. My great grandmother was raised Catholic and converted when she married my great grandfather and didn’t "appear" Jewish so she was basically free to go about her business. I cant remember the exact sequence of events that followed (my grandmother and I haven't discussed this lately and its still somewhat painful for her to talk about) but my great grandfather was very close to being sent to Auschwitz but through a sequence of events (and some good fortune) were able to flee to America.

With the exception of his brothers, my great grandfather's family all died as a result of concentration camps (and some to suicide)

I still have both my great grandparent’s passports (1939-1941) complete with Third Reich symbols on the covers and stamped inside. It starts with Poland and Germany, other stamps inside include Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Panama (all before coming to America)

Again thank you for sharing your experience and having an open mind. I hope some of the negativity that surfaced in this post does not discourage you from posting your experiences in the future. There's a time and a place for everything and I hope the people who could have easily started a new thread to discuss Israel's unfair and inexcusable treatment of Palestine have or will at least take the time to read the experiences of those 3 human beings which were no doubt painful to share

Peace