With the aid of Dexter Ford, Henry Oster has told his painful memories of growing up a happy little German child, sheltered by his middle-class parents from the growing tide of resentment. By the age of six, he and his family were among the 2,011 Jewish people to be arrested for no crime and deported from Cologne. Photos are provided.
THE STABLE BOY OF AUSCHWITZ was previously released under a different title in 2014; I found that the horses were a good focal point. Horses were kept by the Nazis for the war effort in Eastern Europe, and Auschwitz in Poland held a convenient breeding stable. Because Henry, then called Heinz, spoke German, the guards could give him orders, so he was selected as one of the stable boys. Henry had already been separated from his mother and knew she had met a tragic fate. His father had died previously while forced to work and live in a ghetto until the camps were constructed. The horses, warm, kind, and energetic, became his substitute for a family. He was able to sneak tiny morsels of their food, though he risked death with every grain. The horses kept him alive.
The facts of the Holocaust are widely known, and nobody enjoys reading them, but passing on this learned wisdom is important. Henry was one of a tiny number who survived ten years of cruel, inhuman captivity, and can tell the whole story. From the theft of his fine city home to sharing a number of prison camps and ending up in one with Russian prisoners of war, then the glorious, unbelievable spectacle of a green tank rolling into the camp decorated with a Star of David chalked on its side.
The flood of Displaced Persons after the war’s end included a chance for a lanky teenager to find a better life. Henry Oster describes his efforts and the good person he became. Perhaps, he says, survivor’s guilt kept him working and helping others. He used to tell his story monthly since 1977 at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, and in schools and community centres. Even so, THE STABLE BOY OF AUSCHWITZ contains a portion of his memories that he had previously never told because keeping quiet had saved his life on that occasion.
This account includes explanations of how a nation’s people could be manipulated, lied to, and turned to evil. The lessons learned are as necessary now as they have ever been. I found the tale chilling, and compulsive reading at times, but the splendid liberation scenes restore faith in human goodness.
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