Stephan Casey – Please Do Not Forget

I am happy that I can speak to you today. Happy that I survived the horrors of Buchenwald concentration camp, Schlieben and later Flößberg. There I no longer had a name, but was merely Buchenwald prisoner 87645. I am also happy because, unlike most of my family, I survived. In 1944 my family numbered 41 people. Only five survived: two cousins, two uncles, and myself. Most died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. My mother was only 47 years old. My father died at the age of 58 in Dachau. I was 21 years old when I was liberated in Mauthausen.

I am proud because I now see the results of the hard work of a few people who insist: Schlieben must not be forgotten. On the internet I saw a wonderful site about the town. It reports at length on several hundred years of local history. But one thing is missing. One can read there what happened in the year 1778. The next piece of information is then from 1991. Did nothing happen in the 213 years in between? How can that be? The memories of certain years simply disappeared from history.

Stephan Casey, formerly Istvan Katona, No. 87645

Stephan Casey was a Hungarian Jew, born Istvan Katona. He now lives in Australia at the age of 87. A few years ago he visited Schlieben once again.

Translated from German. Read the German original.