DATA Students Continue Holocaust Interviews: George Jacoby

Beginning in the Fall and as part of an ongoing project, DATA students have been interviewing Holocaust survivors at the Tolerance Education Center in Rancho Mirage, California. With the help of Anne Phillips, Director of Programs/Education at the Center, our students have stood face to face with the courageous people who had the will to survive one of most horrible acts in human history.

On this day, DATA student Jocael Suarez interviewed George Jacoby, who survived several concentration camps, including one in which he was forced to watch his father beaten to death. Click on the picture below to listen to the entire 19 minute, 26 second audio interview.

HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: GEORGE JACOBY from Matt Hamilton on Vimeo.

Jacoby is married to another survivor, Goldie Jacoby. "We met on on a boulevard in New York City in 1948 after the war," he said. "We just happened to walk into each other. We went steady from that day. I consider myself the luckiest guy on earth, despite the mess I went through. We've been married for 56 years. I really lucked out. Without her, I would be the loneliest man on earth."

One of the most dramatic things that George said during the interview was that he had lost his faith in God. "How can there be a God when he allows such horrible things to happen?" he asked during the interview.