Woodmere doctor preserving vivid Holocaust memories

When Woodmere physician Dr. David Chideckel was conducting medical research on catastrophic illness, he stumbled on hundreds of people who were Holocaust survivors. After hearing numerous examples of the horrors these people had to deal with while surviving the attempted complete elimination of European Jewry during World War II, he decided that these stories needed to be preserved so future generations know about the full brutality of Hitler's Nazi regime.

Dr. Chideckel has pieced together nearly 2,000 pages outlining survival stories of 250 people from all over the world, including the United States, Israel, Canada, Mexico, Italy, France, Holland and Belgium. Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Memorial, recently accepted six pieces of his work into its archives, and the Five Towner is hoping eventually the museum will accept all of his work. He especially felt the need to preserve these stories with so many Holocaust survivors dying each year, with the youngest now approaching age 70.

"The hope is that the stories of these

survivors won't die with them," said Dr. Chideckel.

What makes the stories that Dr. Chideckel has compiled different from other Holocaust research is the people he interviewed are camouflaged, which allows for better descriptions of what they endured. The 250 people interviewed also do not directly refer to the Holocaust but instead explain situations they encountered during that period, such as what it was like being on trains that traveled to the death camps and how in many instances 99 percent of people were killed almost instantly upon arriving.

"I guarantee you nobody has the stories I do because they are so rare," said Dr. Chideckel adding that many of these people's own children are not aware of these experiences they faced. "The pieces will knock you out."