To the Editor:
I am responding to your article noting the support of Holocaust survivors living in Florida for the bills in Congress to allow lawsuits against European insurance companies. I am a survivor of the Holocaust and an elected leader of the Washington State Holocaust survivors’ community.
I lived in Berlin in the underground until my arrest by the Gestapo in March 1945. At the Gestapo headquarters and prison in Berlin, I was tortured for one month before being shipped in a cattle car to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp at the age of 12. I managed to escape with the help of Soviet soldiers who were prisoners of war and make my return to Berlin.
In my family, only my brother and I survived the Holocaust. In 1952, my brother was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served proudly for 22 years, including experiencing combat in Vietnam. He retired as a major and now lives in Southern California.
I also experienced combat, in Korea, and received a battlefield commission, but I accepted my discharge after three years of service.
Fred H. Taucher
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