International Holocaust Remembrance: Florida Survivor shares powerful message

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Monday is International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

On this day 80 years ago, Russian soldiers liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp where more than a million people — most of them Jewish — were murdered by Nazis.

WATCH BELOW: Michael Bornstein reflects on surviving Auschwitz

Michael Bornstein is one of a dwindling number of people who can speak firsthand about what it was like to live through history's largest genocide.

Bornstein was born in a Polish ghetto a few years before his family was moved to Auschwitz in 1944.

"I was actually moved to a children's bunk and most kids didn't survive much longer than two weeks before they were gassed to death and burned," Bornstein said in an interview with WPTV at his Palm Beach Gardens vacation rental.

Bornstein said he remembers his mother sneaking him bread, only to have older children in his bunk take it away. Eventually, Bornstein's mother snuck him into the women's bunk so that she could look after him before she was sent to another camp to pack bullets for the Nazis.

He was 4 years old when the camp was liberated. Bornstein walked free with his grandmother, Dora, in a miracle he attributes to an illness.

"The Nazis were germophobic," Bornstein said. "So my grandmother (who) was with me — Dora — took me to the quote, unquote, 'infirmary.' And that's how we were basically saved because otherwise, we'd be on a death march."

Bornstein's father and brother did not survive.

WATCH BELOW: Holocaust survivor shares special message

"I seem to remember the smell, the foul, disgusting smell that I found out later was the smell of burning bodies. I remember Nazis shouting at me in German, and I remember going out looking at trash cans to find moldy potato skins to eat to survive," Bornstein recalled.

After they were freed, Bornstein and his mother reunited and moved to the United States. They were homeless and penniless in New York, he said.

Bornstein worked and studied, and eventually attended the University of Iowa on a scholarship. That's where he met his wife, Judy, before embarking on a career in pharmaceuticals and starting a family.

"I didn't talk about my experience in Auschwitz for at least 70 years. I kept my sleeve down. I hid my tattoo," Bornstein said. "I was embarrassed ... but as I got older, I think I realized that people need to understand what happened, wake up and minimize the hate and bigotry that's going on around the world."

Since Bornstein began speaking about his experience, he's traveled the U.S. to speak with students and other groups about his story. He and Judy also traveled to Japan, he said.

Stories like Bornstein's are why MorseLife launched the Holocaust Learning Experience in West Palm Beach.

"The urgency was to capture their stories in a way that was easy and accessible for teachers to use," said Leigh Routman, the program's executive director.

The Holocaust Learning Experience aims to make sure the stories of the Holocaust — and the lessons they carry — outlive the dwindling number of people who can tell them.

"Understanding bias and prejudice and the impact of hate and bigotry and standing up, and understanding how propaganda can change societies is a really important lesson," Routman said.

The program has recorded videos of survivors telling their stories, which can be presented in classrooms. Routman and her team have also developed a ready-to-teach, interdisciplinary curriculum that aligns with state educational guidelines in Florida.

The Holocaust Learning Experience is now available in 40 Florida school districts and also in New Jersey. Routman said she's talking to policymakers in other states to continue expanding.

The experience is based on the MorseLife campus and is an official field trip location for the School District of Palm Beach County. Local students can visit the classroom for lessons and learn about the Gendelman Children's Holocaust Memorial Tree that sits in the garden outside.

WPTV

The 26-foot bronze tree sculpture is adorned with roughly 3,800 butterflies, designed by local students and Holocaust survivors, Routman said. The memorial is part of the International Butterfly Project, which aims to create 1.5 million butterflies on memorials around the world.

Each butterfly represents one of the 1.5 million children who perished during the Holocaust.

"[It's] for the world to hear their stories and for the world to know that this actually happened is so important," Routman said.

On Monday, Bornstein returned to Auschwitz to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its liberation. He was joined by his family, a handful of other survivors, and world dignitaries including Pope Francis and King Charles III.

"Even though Auschwitz is a place where there's bigotry and hate, that's one reason we're going back — to show what happens when there's so much bigotry and hate, not only against Jewish people, but other people as well," Bornstein said.