Letter from George Bush to Elie Wiesel regarding their visit to Auschwitz

This letter, dated September 7, 2000, is from Louis J. Freeh, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to Mr. Elie Wiesel. Freeh expresses his gratitude for their recent meeting in New York and emphasizes how much he enjoyed their conversation. He extends an invitation for Wiesel to meet again if he is ever in Washington and conveys a desire to maintain contact. A handwritten note, likely by Freeh himself, adds a personal touch, stating that he was deeply moved by a book Wiesel is writing.

This document is an invitation transmitted via fax from the Office of Protocol, US Mission to the UN, dated March 16, 2000. It is addressed to Mr. Elie Wiesel, with an annotation for the attention of Renee Spitz. The invitation is extended by The Honorable Richard C. Holbrooke, Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, requesting Mr. Wiesel's presence at a luncheon. The event is held in honor of His Excellency Mr. Pascoal Manuel Mocumbi, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Mozambique. The luncheon is scheduled for Monday, April 10, 2000, at 1:00 p.m., at The Waldorf Astoria Towers, located at 100 East 50th Street, Suite 42A. The document also includes an RSVP phone number and a note requesting advice on any dietary restrictions.

Herman Krauser served as an 89th Infantry sergeant in Germany with the 3rd Army during World War II. He briefly mentions that he encountered prisoners liberated from Ohrdruf on April 3, 1945, when his company bypassed the camp while enroute to engage the enemy. Most of this interview is a report - read by Mr. Krauser - based on testimonies of American soldiers in the 355th Regiment and the 4th Armoured Division who liberated Ohrdruf, describing brutal conditions.

Hertha Beese, nee Scholz, was born in Berlin, Germany September 10, 1902 into a non-Jewish German family. Her parents were active in the Social Democratic party (SPD) and trade unions. Hertha attended schools in Berlin, pre World War I with Jews and Catholics. She was forced to participate in Protestant religious instruction of the Landeskirchebecause she was not baptized. In 1933, she and other SPD members lost their jobs. She describes Nazi persecution of Socialists and Communists as well as Jews. Her resistance group, one of more than 20 in Berlin, hid people until they could cross the mountains into Switzerland. She details sheltering Jews and non-Jews in her home. She testifies to the beating of her brother by SA storm troopers, prior to 1933, and the terrorization of non-Jewish Berliners. In Berchtesgaden, she observed resentment of local residents toward the SS and the exploitation of German laborers. She describes her refusal to fly the Nazi flag, her children’s refusal to join the Hitler Youth, and the devious means she used to avoid serving in the Luftschutz. She had to work in the Arbeitsdienstfrom 1943 to 1945 as a teacher in the Spreewald area. She also worked illegally as a bookkeeper for Jewish cattle dealers who were SPD members who joined the Nazi party to avoid deportation. A local farmer hid several Jewish Berliners she brought to him. She became vice-chair of the Brandenburg SPD in 1945, chaired an anti-fascist commission in Potsdam, and was deputy mayor of Reinickendorf, 1948-1965. She was honored with the Golden Rose of Paris for aid to French Prisoners of War and was declared an “Elder Statesman” of Berlin.

Henrich Hofman was born July 20, 1922 in Lipecka Polyana, Czechoslovakia. He describes pre-war life,his education, being a member of Shomer Hatzair, and the good relationship his family had with the non-Jews in the area. His father was a carpenter.He describes the Hungarian Occupation, harassment of Jews starting in 1940, including confiscation of stores. He details the horrors in Passover 1941,when his whole town was deported in cattle cars to Rachof (Rachov). He describes the trip, selection, and an intervention by the Budapest Jewish community to prevent the evacuation of Jewish citizens of that area which saved his group. Henrich describes looking out the cattle car through slits at the condemned group and seeing the Germans throwing Jews into trucks as if they were pieces of wood. His part of the transport was then taken to a concentration camp in Rachof. His friend who survived from the other part of the transport told him months later that the Germans murdered the rest of the group in the Dnieper Riverin Kamenets-Podolski. In October 1943 he details his deportation to and forced labor in Görgenyoroszfalù (Romania, occupied by Hungary) where he helped to build an airfield. In January1944 he volunteered to work elsewhere, was taken to Rákoshegy near Budapest where he worked building German barracks from March through July 1944. He describes the much improved conditions,lots of food, ability to leave on Shabbat to go to Jews in the community before they liquidated the area. Henrich ended up working for a German officer as personal tailor, and describes some kindnesses from some Germans. A German co-worker hid him and a friend in an attic to avoid deportation. He describes how the work of his hands helped him to survive on many occasions. He was liberated on November 15, 1944 by the Soviet frontline and worked as an interpreter for the Soviet army for 11 months. He was reunited with his sisters in Chust (Khust) in1945, went to Budapest, met and married his wife in October and moved to the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia from 1945–49. They emigrated to Israel in July 1949 and eventually to the United States in 1959.