Stories of Survival: "During that time we never saw any daylight."

I find few things more compelling and captivating than the testimony of genocide survivors. Occasionally, I highlight such stories on the blog, which often appear in local newspaper following a survivor's presentation at a school, place of worship, or business.

Many people risked their own lives to keep Jewish families --- or often, just the children --- in hiding. Gary Pollex hid with 10 other children at a Benedictine monastery in Poland:

In 1943, the 74-year-old said, "I was taken into hiding from the Nazis by the monks at a Benedictine monastery in Poland. There were 11 of us children, and for two years we hid in a wine cellar.

"During that time we never saw any daylight. It was cold and damp, and we had very little to eat. Only four of us survived; the other children died of malnutrition, pneumonia or just plain sadness."

Ruth Muschkies Webber narrowly escaped being loaded onto a truck (destination: unknown, but likely nowhere pleasant) after being discovered in hiding, though she did end up in Auschwitz later on:

In a 1992 interview, nearly half a century after it happened, Ruth Muschkies Webber recalled the terrifying moment of discovery. She and several other children were concealed under a layer of potatoes, hiding for their lives in a hole in the ground. And then someone pulled the potatoes away.

It was a German soldier carrying a handgun. It could very well have been the end. But it wasn't.

As other Jewish prisoners were being loaded into the trucks outside, the armed German seemed to have a change of heart. He told the children it wasn't safe for them to come out and to remain where they were.