My Afternoons With Mr. Gast: Kippers, Humanity, and the Holocaust

Through afternoon discussions, an Auschwitz survivor, Paul Gast, and a college junior, Hannah North, develop a relationship of trust and openness. A complex individual is revealed, who is a "Holocaust survivor, as well as a father, a grandfather, a speaker, a volunteer, a reader, a comedian and my friend". Despite losing his father when the Nazi's invaded Poland in 1939 and his mother in the concentration camps before being himself tossed into the world alone after liberation by Allied troops, Mr. Gast chose to lead a life of happiness, rather than sadness and anger, over the course of his life after the War. Admittedly deeply affected and scarred by the persecution and horror he witnessed as a nine year old boy forced into the Lodz ghetto followed by internment at Auschwitz, Mr. Gast's inner strength and insistence on enjoying life and continuous efforts to help others see beyond their own difficult pasts is remarkable. We are better for the opportunity to get to know Mr. Gast, and his story, through these afternoon talks.