Holocaust Survivor Shares Courageous Story

Ted Brenig easily finds his parents names on a memorial wall inside Agudath Sholom Synagogue in Lynchburg.

A Holocaust survivor, Ted lost his parents, Baruch and Gittel Brenig, in Germany’s notorious Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

Born in Vienna, Austria in 1927, Ted grew up in a Jewish middle class family with an older brother, surrounded by aunts and uncles. “Overall, I would say I had a happy childhood and everything was great,” he said.

At 10, he began to experience anti-semitism. A temple in his neighborhood was firebombed. By 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria.

A Nazi forced his family from their apartment. His father was arrested and taken to a concentration camp. He was released after his wife showed proof they would leave the country.

After his release, the family fled to Belgium. “Nobody in the world wanted to accept Jews and America, where my father wanted to go, had a quota system and he was told it would take two years for a visa.”

In 1940, Germany overran Belgium. Ted’s father was arrested and sent to a camp in southern France. A year later, his mother took Ted and his brother to France.

“We were illegal foreigners, so we were also arrested and we got into camps there. My mother and I were in the camp for women and children and my brother in the same camp as my father.”

Now 13, Ted was able to leave the camp and smuggle bread to his father and brother. “We didn’t have enough to eat, but my father had even less.”

Two years became four years. The visa didn’t arrive and in 1944, the U.S. entered the war. Germany asked the French to hand over foreign born Jews. “At the time, they did not yet deport children. So I was taken by a Jewish organization to a children’s home.” Ted’s brother fought in the war and later moved to the United States.

His parents were deported back to Germany, but it wasn’t until 30 years later that Ted learned they were put on cattle train number 19 with 1,000 Jews and taken to Auschwitz. “They were immediately put into the gas chamber and killed.”While in the children’s home, Ted wondered about his parents. “I thought they were resettled probably. I knew of the mass killings, but I still hoped that maybe my parents would survive.”

Ted was later smuggled into Switzerland, along with two other Jewish boys. A neutral country, Switzerland accepted children refugees under the age of 16 so with forged documents, Ted—16 at the time—was accepted.

Ted spent time in an abbey and later a children’s home. “They thought that I was gifted and they said, ‘Well, this boy really should go to school.’”

Ted received a scholarship to The Swiss Institute of Technology, which is the equivalent of M.I.T. and became an engineer. He met and married, Ruth, a Swiss woman. They had two children. His wife learned that General Electric was looking for engineers. Ted interviewed and received a job offer, moving to Lynchburg. “I came to Lynchburg and found a very friendly town. For the first time since I left Austria, people welcomed me and said, ‘Yes, we want you here.’”

Ted worked for General Electric for 25 years, traveling the world, winning numerous awards and earning several patents. He joined the local synagogue and the Appalachian Trail Club.

Ted overcame incredible odds and trauma to become a successful engineer, community advocate, husband and father. “Oh, my parents, they would be proud of me. They would have been very happy.”

For many years, Ted never talked about surviving the Holocaust. “After the war, I just wanted to forget the whole thing. I didn’t want to think about Austria. I didn’t want to think about Germany. I wanted to be a normal person. I wanted to be an engineer. I didn’t want to be a Holocaust survivor. I just wanted to be Ted Brenig — engineer, tennis and bridge player and hiker.”

Due to renewed interest in the Holocaust, Ted has told his story over the years.

“Now I have given a number of interviews, in part, because some people deny there was a Holocaust. And I say, ‘No, there was a Holocaust. I’ve lived it. I cannot show you the grave of my parents, but they were killed.”

The 99-year-old recalls World War II and prays for peace.“Life would be so easy if everybody would live in peace. I don’t see why people want to kill others.”

This month, The Summit hosted the premier of Against All Odds at a standing-room-only event. The film was followed by a Q&A discussion facilitated by the director of the film, Jonathan Parker, and a meet and greet reception.

For more information about bringing your class or homeschool co-op to a film screening at The Summit, contact our marketing team at (434) 333-2138.