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Gabor Hirsch is no longer alive. Tina, 21, was also by her grave Tuesday. She did not experience the Holocaust, but she did meet Hirsch. Tina said:
“The first three words that come to mind when I think of Gabor are: moving, effective and inspiring. For the reason that Gabor’s childhood and youth were marked by agony and pain and despite everything he managed to get up and did not allow anything to be taken from him. (…) I had the honor of writing my thesis on Matura’s history. (…) I am so grateful to have been able to meet Gabor, and I will always see him as my greatest inspiration due to the fact that he fought all his life to ensure that what he had to live will never happen again to our generations and future generations. . , but at the same time it should never be forgotten. Gabor, you were and are an inspiration to me and many others. “
Gabor Hirsch, born in Hungary 90 years ago, was the husband and father of two children. The last time he saw his mother was when he was 14 years old through a fence in the Auschwitz concentration camp. The mother gave the son his ration of bread.
Hirsch never told his children to empty the plate because he would have been glad to have something to eat. Hirsch never said anything like that. The one who weighed 27 kilos when he was released from Auschwitz. For 60 years, Hirsch was silent about what he had to experience. 30 years ago he traveled to Poland with his eldest son Mathias to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp. And he began to count.
He, who was an introvert, could no longer remain silent. Not because he wanted to talk about himself. I wanted people not to forget where exclusion and silence can lead to injustice. Hirsch researched meticulously, gathered evidence, and compared his memory with the archives. It sat in archives for weeks, even at Auschwitz. He spoke in many classes at school. Most recently in March in Zurich. He met Federal President Simonetta Sommaruga and also took time out for Tina, a high school student.
Each number a person
Hirsch endured when his counterpart lost words. I knew there are no suitable words. But he spoke when someone asked him. He searched for the words. I found support in the facts. On endless transport lists, death lists. The horror in black and white. These innumerable numbers. Each number a name. Each name of a person. Your mother’s name after a number. Lists, names, numbers. This planned and arrested mass murder of people, implemented by people. Hirsch warned because he knew that what had happened could happen again.
Hirsch spoke about the horror. And not for you. He spoke for those who could no longer, for the survivors for whom telling the story was too painful, and for all generations to come. In a conversation in January at his home in Esslingen ZH, Gabor Hirsch said: “I would like to warn people so that they can protect themselves from any form of indoctrination. And fight against all kinds of discrimination, racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of exclusion. “
Soon after, he and his two sons traveled to Auschwitz for the last time. The Sunday hearing was allowed to accompany him. Hirsch hardly said anything. He only spoke a few words during lunch. Every day, wrapped in his good humor, in the middle of Auschwitz. Hirsch’s presence took some of the heaviness out of this terrible place. He, the survivor.
Gabor Hirsch challenged life. In 1956 he fled Hungary when his compatriots went from the Nazis to the Communists. He wanted out, wanted to lead a life, his life. So many things that should be taken for granted were not in Gabor Hirsch’s life. Hirsch struggled. It took a bit of luck out of life. He described himself as a lucky man. Because he survived. But not only. His son Mathias said during a phone conversation this week: “My father found peace in Switzerland. He was able to study and raise a family. “Hirsch became an engineer. He never wanted a managerial position.” He didn’t want to rule other people. “He missed his mother all his life. She was murdered by the Nazis.” We can only hope he’s here. with her now, “said Mathias.
75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp
