The Real Reasons: An Exploration of the Causes of the Holocaust with Survivor David Bergman

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David Bergman is a survivor of one of the worst atrocities in history, the Holocaust. Miraculously he defied death on multiple occasions during his ordeal in labor camps, concentration camps, a death march, and a massacre. As the lone survivor of his family, he might have lived as a victim after liberation, but instead went on to build an incredibly legacy. Within five years of immigrating to America, he caught up on junior high school work, graduated from high school, and was drafted into the military where he then served four years in the Air Force during the Korean War. After an honorable discharge, he continued to serve selflessly by educating students and other audiences for several decades about the Holocaust and what human beings are capable of doing to one another because of extreme hatred. His story has been used in video format in public schools all over the country, and his is one of the biographies used at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.

The Real Reasons: An Exploration of the Causes of the Holocaust with Survivor David Bergman goes beyond just retelling his story. Following the summary of his experiences, he discusses his views on the real reasons the Nazis destroyed his family and so many others and what causes some people to be able to commit such heinous crimes against fellow human beings. This work is the result of years of researching in an attempt to understand how the suffering he, his family, and millions of others could have happened to the extent that it did. This work is designed for use as curriculum in the classroom, and is teacher-friendly offering definitions and lesson ideas helpful while teaching about the Holocaust. David’s wish is to see this book in the hands of teachers and students, but you need not be an academic type to appreciate and be moved by David’s story, and he hopes that all people will take an interest in his work, and that it might lead to preventing similar events in this and future generations.

David Bergman is a Holocaust survivor from Czechoslovakia who was used as slave labor in several labor and concentration camps as a young teen. After experiencing confinement, the loss of family, brutality, starvation, a death march, and a massacre attempt, he was finally liberated by American Armed Forces. After living in a Displaced Persons’ camp, he immigrated to America, where he completed his schooling and soon after, served his new country honorably in the Air Force during the Korean War. He went on to complete college, built a career and a family, and began speaking of his Holocaust experiences to keep a promise to the inmates in Dachau who once saved his life. Through public speaking appearances, writing, and video programs, he has spent the decades since telling the world what happened, so that no one will forget the atrocities committed by the Nazis and their collaborators, and to remind audiences of what human beings are capable of doing to one another.