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May 23, 2003

Siegfried Halbreich

Yesterday and the day before, Notre Dame's seniors had the distinct pleasure of meeting Siegfried Halbreich, a 93-year-old survivor of three Nazi concentration camps who has come to speak at our school for the last 22 years running.

I volunteered to drive out to Beverly Hills to pick up Sig and his "young" (read "late 70s") friend and fellow survivor, Fred Diamond, and bring them into town on Tuesday. Wednesday morning, our seniors went to Temple Beth El to listen to him speak about his experiences, and to hear a rabbi (whose name escapes me) give them more information on Judaism in general. Yesterday, once Sig and Fred were done with the Q&A session at the school, I drove them back to Beverly Hills.

Although yesterday's drive from Riverside to Beverly Hills was pleasant enough, and I waited until late at night to attempt the return trip, I had no such luck on Tuesday. It took me an hour and a half to get out to Beverly Hills, and almost three and a half hours to get back. That return trip was made all the more stressful for having roughly 170 years of Holocaust survivor in my car. I don't mind having to slam on the brakes when some wanker cuts in front of me under normal circumstances, but I was trying my best to drive as if I had the world's largest Faberge eggs in the car with me, and the 10 Freeway just doesn't allow for that level of care.

Anyhow, that few hours of stress aside, I had a great time chauffeuring the two of them to and fro. My mom used to be the one to pick up Sig from Beverly Hills, so he remembered me well. He even told my seniors how he'd known me when I was just a child, when elicited the expected "Awwwww" from the crowd. Getting to spend time with Sig over the last three days really helped me to put my own problems into perspective. I mean, you hardly feel right grousing about things when you were in the recent company of a man who faced religious genocide with equanimity.

He's quite a guy, that Sig. He's written a book about his experiences, an autographed copy of which he gave me yesterday afternoon. I'd read my mom's copy some years back, but I look forward to a second reading. If you're interested in looking it up, the Amazon.com page for it is here.

Posted by patrick at May 23, 2003 12:48 PM

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Posted by: propecia at January 20, 2005 01:53 PM

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