PRESENTED BY IRA A. LIPMAN
NATIONAL CHAIRMAN N.C.C.J. CHAIRMAN AND PRESIDENT GUARDSMARK, INC.

PEABODY HOTEL MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE

APRIL 19, 1990

THANK YOU.

I AM DEEPLY HONORED TO PRESENT THIS AWARD TONIGHT TO NINA KATZ, AND DOUBLY HONORED THAT SHE ASKED ME TO MAKE THE PRESENTATION. BECAUSE IN RECOGNIZING NINA FOR WHAT SHE HAS ACHIEVED, WE ALSO RENEW OUR STAND AGAINST THE FORCES OF DARKNESS AND IGNORANCE THAT ONCE ALMOST OVERWHELMED HER AND THE REST OF HUMANITY. ON MAY 5, 1945, NINA WAS RELEASED FROM THE LIVING DEATH OF A NAZI CONCENTRATION CAMP. THERE ARE SOME WHO WOULD DENY IT. THESE NEW FORCES OF DARKNESS AND IGNORANCE-THESE “REVISIONIST” HISTORIANS-DENY THAT ANY ATTEMPT WAS MADE TO DESTROY THE ENTIRE JEWISH POPULATION. THEY DENY THE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION CARRIED OUT ACROSS THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE, FROM THE CITIES OF FRANCE TO THE VILLAGES OF THE SOVIET UNION. THEY DENY HISTORY. THEY DENY TRUTH. AND IN SPREADING THEIR EVIL LIES, THEY DENY THE REALITY OF WHAT NINA KATZ EXPERIENCED.

BUT WE HAVE A WITNESS. DAVID SILBERBERG CAME TO THE UNITED STATES FROM GERMANY WITH HIS FAMILY IN 1936. THEY SETTLED IN MEMPHIS, AND DAVID WAS LATER INDUCTED INTO THE U.S. ARMY. HE WAS AMONG THE FIRST AMERICANS TO CROSS THE RHINE, AND AFTER THE WAR HE WAS STATIONED WITH THE OCCUPATION FORCES.

ON A SPRING DAY IN 1946, CAPTAIN SILBERBERG WENT TO A DISPLACED PERSONS CAMP IN BAVARIA IN SEARCH OF MORRIS KATZ, WHOSE UNCLE IN MEMPHIS HAD WRITTEN TO CAPTAIN SILBERBERG AND ASKED HIM TO FIND MORRIS.

NINA WAS WORKING IN THE CAMP FOR THE UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND REHABILITATION ADMINISTRATION, AND YOU CAN IMAGINE HER EXCITEMENT WHEN FRIENDS CAME INTO THE OFFICE TO TELL HER THAT A U.S. ARMY OFFICER WAS LOOKING FOR HER FIANCE. SHE CAN STILL REMEMBER THE CAPTAIN’S BIG SMILE WHEN THEY MET. SHE CAN STILL REMEMBER HER WHITE BLOUSE AND LIGHT GRAY JACKET-BOTH MADE FROM MEN’S CLOTHES – AND HER NAVY BLUE SKIRT, MADE FROM A BLANKET. SHE HAD A PHOTOGRAPH MADE OF HERSELF WEARING THAT OUTFIT, AND IN THE PHOTOGRAPH HER HAIR WAS STILL GROWING OUT. WHEN HE FOUND HER, NINA WAS STILL RECOVERING PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, AND SPIRITUALLY FROM WHAT SHE HAD EXPERIENCED, AND HE CAN ATTEST- HAVING SEEN HER THAT CHILLY BUT BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY IN 1946-THAT HER LIFE JOURNEY TO THIS DINNER TONIGHT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT SUPREME STRENGTH OF WILL AND MORAL COURAGE. DAVID HELPED NINA AND MORRIS DECIDE TO COME TO MEMPHIS. HE RETURNED TO MEMPHIS HIMSELF AFTER HIS ACTIVE DUTY, JOINED THE ARMY RESERVE, BECAME AN ATTORNEY, AND WAS LATER NAMED AN HONORARY CONSUL FOR THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, A TITLE HE HAS HELD FOR 25 YEARS. WE OWE A DEBT OF GRATITUDE TO THAT YOUNG OFFICER. FORTUNATELY, TONIGHT WE CAN PAY THAT DEBT. THEN CAPTAIN–NOW RETIRED LIEUTENANT COLONEL-DAVID SILBERBERG, SERIAL NUMBER 0-555-145, PLEASE STAND AND ACCEPT OUR APPRECIATION.

WE CANNOT FULLY HONOR NINA KATZ FOR WHAT SHE HAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH HER LIFE, UNLESS WE UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE WENT THROUGH.

THE HOLOCAUST.

NINA SURVIVED THE HOLOCAUST.

HER FAMILY DID NOT SURVIVE. HER MOTHER, HER FATHER, HER GRANDFATHER, AND HER 7-YEAR-OLD SISTER DISAPPEARED INTO THE DARKNESS OF AUSCHWITZ. SHE CAN STILL REMEMBER THAT DAY IN 1939, WHEN HER FAMILY WAS WADED ONTO THE TRAIN. AS SHE TRIED TO REACH THEM, SHE WAS KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS. SHE CAN STILL SEE HER MOTHER WAVING AS THE TRAIN LATER PULLED OUT, WAVING NOT BECAUSE SHE COULD SEE NINA, BUT IN HOPE THAT NINA COULD SEE HER. AFTER HALF A CENTURY, NINA STILL SEES HER WAVING GOOD-BY.NINA WAS SAVED BECAUSE SHE WAS YOUNG AND STRONG. SHE WENT TO A SLAVE LABOR CAMP. OTHERS-CONSIDERED USELESS WENT TO DIE. THE OLD, THE INFIRM, AND CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 10 WENT TO THE OVENS. MANY OF US HAVE BEEN TO AUSCHWITZ, BIRKENAU, DACHAU, THERESIENSTADT, BERGEN-BELSEN, AND BABI YAR. WE HAVE WALKED WHERE THEY WALKED AND SEEN WHERE THEY SLEPT. WE HAVE SEEN WHERE WOMEN CARVED THEIR NAMES IN THE WOODWORK THAT THEY MIGHT NOT BE FORGOTTEN. WE HAVE SEEN THE BAGGAGE, THE PILES OF CLOTHING, THE HEAPS OF HUMAN HAIR. IN THE STILLNESS YOU CAN ALMOST HEAR THE PRAYERS OF THOSE WHO PRAYED NOT FOR LIFE, BUT FOR DEATH-FOR RELEASE FROM THEIR OWN MEMORIES AND FROM THE TORTURE THAT DID NOT END. DAY AFTER DAY, YEAR AFTER YEAR IT WENT ON. THE MADNESS OF IT! MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS ROBBED; BEATEN; RAPED; STARVED; SEPARATED FROM WIVES, HUSBANDS, CHILDREN, PARENTS, COUSINS, UNCLES, AND AUNTS; BRUTALIZED, WORKED TO DEATH, SHOT, GASSED, AND BURIED IN MASS GRAVES OR CREMATED IN THE NAZI OVENS.

SIX MILLION JEWS WERE MURDERED IN THE HOLOCAUST. THE LOSS IS BEYOND COMPREHENSION, AND IT DID NOT STOP WITH THE END OF THE KILLING. HOW MANY PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD AND RIGHT HERE IN MEMPHIS MIGHT HAVE BEEN SAVED FROM DEADLY ILLNESS, SAVED BY THE DISCOVERIES OF JEWISH SCIENTISTS, HAD THEY LIVED? OR BY THOSE OF THEIR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN, NEVER BORN? IT IS A MATTER OF PRIDE TO THE JEWISH PEOPLE THAT ALTHOUGH THEY REPRESENT LESS THAN ONE-HALF OF ONE PERCENT OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION, JEWS HAVE WON MORE THAN 18 PERCENT OF THE NOBEL PRIZES EVER AWARDED. AND MORE THAN 25 PERCENT OF THE PRIZES GIVEN IN MEDICINE! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES THAT THE CURE FOR CANCER DIED AT AUSCHWITZ? TRULY, THE EVIL THAT MEN DO IS VISITED UPON THE INNOCENT IN WAYS THEY NEVER IMAGINE. AND IT WAS NOT ONLY JEWS WHO DIED IN THE HOLOCAUST, BUT ALSO GYPSIES, GAYS, THE HANDICAPPED, THE INSANE, PRISONERS OF WAR, CATHOLICS, PROTESTANTS, DISSIDENTS, AND LEFTISTS. IT MUST HAVE SEEMED TO A YOUNG GIRL, THOUGH, THAT THE WHOLE WORLD WOULD GO TO FEED THE NAZI MONSTER.

HOW DO YOU SURVIVE SUCH AN ORDEAL? HOW DO YOU KEEP YOUR HUMANITY, DIGNITY, AND SELF-RESPECT? YOUR BELIEF IN GOD? YOUR HOPE?

SOMEHOW, NINA ALTMAN KATZ DID JUST THAT. MORE THAN THREE YEARS IN A SLAVE LABOR CAMP AND TWO MORE IN A CONCENTRATION CAME AND SHE SURVIVED.

BUT SHE DID MORE THAN SURVIVE. HOW EASY IT WOULD HAVE BEEN TO BECOME A SPIRITUAL CORPSE, TO YIELD TO THE DARKNESS WITHIN, TO REJOIN THE LIVING ONLY TO WAIT FOR A DEATH THAT HAD BEEN DELAYED. SHE MIGHT HAVE BEEN CONSUMED WITH HATRED AND VENGEANCE. BUT WHEN THE RUSSIANS LIBERATED THE CAMP AND TOLD THE INMATES TO KILL THOSE WHO HAD TREATED THEM SO SAVAGELY, NINA SIMPLY WALKED AWAY AND CRIED.

MAYBE IT WAS THE TEARS THAT SAVED HER FROM BECOMING A DEAD SOUL, THE TEARS FOR HERSELF, FOR HER FAMILY, FOR THE MILLIONS WHO DIED IN THE HOLOCAUST, FOR ALL OF HUMANITY THAT ALLOWED SUCH A THING TO HAPPEN.

SHE COULD HAVE CRIED OR CURSED. PSYCHOLOGISTS TELL US HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO HEAL THE EMOTIONAL WOUNDS OF EARLY LIFE. BUT WITH HER TEARS NINA BEGAN HER OWN HEALING PROCESS. AND SHE KNEW THAT IT IS BETTER TO LIGHT A SINGLE CANDLE THAN TO CURSE THE DARKNESS. SHE HAS SPENT HER LIFE LIGHTING CANDLES. FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS SHE HAS DEVOTED HERSELF TO DISPELLING THE DARKNESS OF IGNORANCE BY BRINGING LIGHT WHERE THERE WAS NONE BEFORE. IN HER WORK WITH EDUCATION AND LITERACY, NINA HAS HELPED RELEASE COUNTLESS MEN AND WOMEN FROM THE GHETTOS BUILT BY INCOMPREHENSION, FEAR, AND MISERY. IT CANNOT BE MERE COINCIDENCE THAT THIS VICTIM OF THE GREATEST VIOLENCE EVER KNOWN DEVELOPED SUCH A CO NT TO LITERACY. IN HEBREW, THE WORDS FOR “MUTE” AND “VIOLENCE” – EE LAM AND OLLIE MOOT – HAVE A COMMON ROOT. VIOLENCE AND THE INABILITY TO COMMUNICATE ARE DIRECTLY RELATED, BECAUSE PEOPLE WHO CANNOT EXPRESS THEMSELVES, WHO CANNOT ARTICULATE THEIR NEEDS AND FEARS AND HOPES, WHO CANNOT SAY WHAT IS IN THEIR HEARTS AND MINDS, TOO OFTEN FEEL A FRUSTRATION THAT EXPLODES IN VIOLENCE.

NINA KNOWS THAT THE MORE SHE HELPS THE ILLITERATE TO READ, THE GREATER VOICE THESE MUTE MEMBERS OF SOCIETY WILL HAVE IN THEIR OWN AFFAIRS.

OUT OF THE TORMENT OF HER YOUTH, NINA HAS FASHIONED A WAY TO BRING PEACE. OUT OF THE HOLOCAUST OF HER EXPERIENCE, SHE HAS MADE AN OFFERING THAT IS SURELY AS PLEASING TO GOD AS IT IS TO ALL OF US HERE TONIGHT.

IN HER WORDS AND ACTIONS, NINA HAS SHOWN US HOW GREAT IS THE HUMAN POTENTIAL FOR LEAVING BEHIND OUR BITTERNESS AND BIGOTRY. WE DO NOT HAVE TO CONTINUE MAN’S HISTORY OF INHUMANITY TO MAN. INSTEAD, WE CAN REACH OUT ACROSS THE BOUNDARIES THAT SEPARATE US- PROTESTANT, CATHOLIC, JEW, MUSLIM, HINDU, OR BUDDHIST; WHITE, BLACK, ASIAN, OR HISPANIC-AND COME TOGETHER ON COMMON GROUND TO FOCUS ON WHAT UNITES US.

NINA KATZ IS LIVING TESTIMONY TO WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE FORCES OF HATRED AND PREJUDICE OVERWHELMED THE LIGHT. AND HER PRESENCE IS A REMINDER THAT OUR VIGILANCE MUST BE ETERNAL IN OPPOSING BIGOTRY WHENEVER AND WHEREVER IT APPEARS, WHETHER IN NATION, CITY, OR COMMUNITY.

BUT ABOVE ALL, HER SURVIVAL AND HER TRIUMPH—HER STRENGTH OF SOUL, HER CHARITY, AND HER CONTINUING HUMANITY—SYMBOLIZE OUR SURVIVAL AND OUR TRIUMPH, THE VALIDITY OF OUR HOPE AND THE ENDURANCE OF OUR FAITH THAT THE SHADOWS OF THE PAST WILL NOT DARKEN OUR FUTURE.

GOD BLESS YOU, NINA KATZ! WE ARE THRILLED AND HONORED TO PRESENT TO YOU NCCJ’s HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD.