by Liam McKenna
The SandPaper, May 27, 2015
Seventy years ago, a teenager was enslaved among countless more in one of the Nazi concentration camps. At the same time, a man was freedom fighting with the U.S. Army, from the beaches of Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge. On May 2, 1945, these two lives crossed paths as the Army liberated the concentration camp where the boy was held.
On May 23, these lives crossed paths once more at Surf City’s annual Memorial Day service in Veteran’s Memorial Park.
The solider, resident John Gutbrod, may appear familiar to readers as a 93-year-old decorated World War II veteran. The enslaved teen, now-Rabbi Laszlo Berkowits, was attending the event for the first time. Emotions ran high as the two embraced for the first time.
“Our people need to remember what it takes to be a free people,” Berkowits said with a distinct, booming Hungarian accent, as he began his speech with Gutbrod at his side.
He quickly went on to thank Gutbrod and the rest of the 82nd Airborne Division, stating he owed every moment of his “second life” to those men. He joked that he was born again before it was fashionable to be born again. This received laughter from the crowd of about 100 attendees. He quickly shifted focus back to what he owed Gutbrod and his other liberators.
“May 2, 1945: It was a day like today — blue sky and a cold wind. But, I tell ya, if God had sent down angels instead of those parachutes, they couldn’t have done a better job,” Berkowits said. “Stand here as long as you can,” he said to his liberator.
“I’ll stand next to you,” Gutbrod replied.
Berkowits then assured the crowd he was in a joyous mood, purely due to that thankfulness he had toward his liberators.
“They turned back a barbarism that enveloped Europe,” Berkowits said.
The rabbi painted a picture of the world in which he grew up. This was, as he said, a culture of great art, religion and education. This rich culture was quickly made “irrelevant.” While Berkowits had grown up in rural Hungary, the family needed to move near Budapest because his father was struggling to make a living under the pressure of the war.
In early 1944, the Nazis began occupying Hungary.
“All hell broke loose,” Berkowits said. “They cleaned the countryside of all Jewish people, including my entire little community. My mother and my little brother and sister were home. My father and I were up near the capital city.”
The Nazis’ first relocation for Berkowits: Auschwitz-Birkenau. The horrific tales of the infamous camp became Berkowits’ reality. He said he “was turned into a slave at age 16½ until John liberated [him] at the age of 17” from the Wobbelin concentration camp. He had been moved several times, from camp to camp.
Gutbrod admitted that the day’s service brought some horrid memories at times as well. Some ugly memories have not faded, Gutbrod having lost many — in his words — friends. The efforts at Normandy came to mind, and he said half of his company was lost.
“I hope we learned a lesson — a bitter one,” Gutbrod told The SandPaper immediately following the service as he shook hands with dozens of people, young and old, wanting to show their respect.
“This is what we have to understand — what man is capable of,” Berkowits said.
Berkowits reiterated: This experience happened “in the heart of civilized Europe, not in some strange jungle.”
“It never made sense,” Gutbrod said. “Me and my wife, we’re both of German decent — we’re first generation.”
While the world was capable of such great evil, Berkowits noted it was also capable of overcoming it. Gutbrod was hopeful that something like these camps never happen again.
“It was so crucial that America gave its heart and soul,” Berkowits said. “The world can never repay that major, major historic contribution to world peace.”
So Berkowits posed a question: How can people adequately show gratitude to compensate American servicemen and servicewomen who have lost so much themselves? He believes that Americans must first tend to veterans’ needs. Further, he believes “living by the ideals that they fought to preserve” is of the utmost importance.
He then pointed to Surf City as an example of preserving American values, calling it a community “where people live side-by-side with respect.”
“I was not at Mount Sinai where Moses got the Ten Commandments, but for our time, there is a new commandment: the 11th Commandment,” Berkowits said. “Don’t call it the Berkowits Commandment. I’m not very important. Human dignity is sacred. That is the first principle. You respect the other person’s dignity; you’ll build a beautiful community. That’s a key.
“When your neighbor is in danger, don’t stand by with folded arms,” Berkowits added. “He or she is a human being, like you.”
Berkowits then took the crowd back to May 2, 1945. The day began with Berkowits asleep on the ground. His “little friend,” a friend whom Berkowits had since age 2 and had been with him through his oppression, woke him up. Berkowits wanted to continue sleeping. His friend was telling him that the SS had run away from the camp. He began to realize what that meant.
“To be free is important. To walk on the sidewalk is important — not in the middle of the street, guarded by an SS solider with a weapon. To be free: That’s what we fought for,” Berkowits said. “And that’s what we need to defend: human dignity, social justice. Don’t fold your arms when your neighbor needs you. And instill always a caring spirit and a beautiful heart in your community. You’ll be blessed and you’ll be a blessing. Thank you very much.”
With that, Berkowits’ speech had ended and a standing ovation began.
“We were both lucky,” Gutbrod said. “We survived.”
Councilman James Russell thanked Berkowits for his words, hoping they ring true for a thousand years. He then presented Berkowits with a Surf City Volunteer Fire Co. windbreaker with his name stitched in.
Russell then took a moment to recognize Gutbrod’s daughter, Carol Hoffman, for making the reunion possible.
In a later interview with The SandPaper, Hoffman said both she and Berkowits are from the same area of northern Virginia. Hoffman has friends, who also happen to own a home in Surf City, whose rabbi was Berkowits.
“One day, I was with Jane and Marty [Malawer] in a local restaurant. I saw the rabbi. I said hello to him and I said, ‘You know, my father was a soldier in the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II.’ He said, ‘Please thank your father for liberating me.’ I was, like, ‘What? What are you talking about?’” Hoffman explained. “I said, ‘You need to meet my father.’”
Hoffman contacted Russell about getting something together, and soon enough, the Memorial Day service plans were in place.
“It boggles the mind,” Gutbrod said.
Gutbrod was very thankful for his daughter’s efforts. He said it helped put things into perspective, helping to prioritize “what’s really important in life.”
“The world is a very small place,” Hoffman said.
When it was time for Ocean County Freeholder Gerry Little, a Surf City resident, to speak, he ran through some of Gutbrod’s long list of accomplishments, including the Silver Star, the French Legion of Honour medal.
Gutbrod served in the 507th Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division, placing him among the first to land on the beaches of Normandy — D-Day, June 6, 1944. Along with that and liberating those held in concentration camps, Gutbrod also fought in the Battle of the Bulge.
“Twelve million Americans were like John Gutbrod, who served in World War II. There are only 800,000 of those soldiers who are with us today, and about 420,000 were lost in World War II,” Little said. “We pray for those who never came home.
“These heroes have America’s eternal gratitude, John.”
Little also read the names of 13 Ocean County members of the military who lost their lives while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. He said he has made a promise to read these names at every Memorial Day service which he attends.
“If anyone tells you there’s no heroes left, they don’t know where to look for them,” Russell summed up.