Mel Mermelstein (1926–2022), Holocaust survivor who challenged deniers
02.02.2022 - 19:59
/ legacy.com
Mel Mermelstein was a Holocaust survivor who successfully sued a group of Holocaust deniers and prompted a judge to declare that the many deaths were fact.Mermelstein and his family were living in Munkacs, Czechoslovakia when World War II broke out. They were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where his parents and sisters were killed in gas chambers and his brother was killed in an apparent escape attempt.
Mermelstein lived through the horrors of Auschwitz and was later able to resettle in the United States. There, he made a life for himself, first serving in the U.S.
Army and working as a translator for the United Nations before founding a shipping pallet manufacturer and publishing his Holocaust memoir, “By Bread Alone: The Story of A-4685” in 1979.When Mermelstein learned of a group of Holocaust deniers who were offering a $50,000 reward to anyone who could provide proof of the genocide at the hands of the Nazis, he responded by telling his story in letters to major newspapers. The group insisted that his personal memories weren’t proof, claiming that his family members hadn’t actually died.
Mermelstein provided a notarized retelling of his experience in Auschwitz, but the group still didn’t accept it as proof. He ended up taking them to court, where a judge awarded him $90,000 and said that the murder of Jews at Auschwitz was “simply a fact.” The Holocaust deniers were required to issue Mermelstein a formal apology in addition to paying his reward.Mermelstein founded the Auschwitz Study Foundation, a nonprofit that educates young people about the Holocaust.
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