... Kingdom Pursuits, where you hear from ordinary people instilled with an extraordinary passion. Together we explore the stories of men and women who take what they love and let God turn their passion into Kingdom Pursuits. Now live from the Truth Booth, your host, Gary Gilmore.
Well, I think yesterday it was, like June 6, 1944 was D-Day, and so we celebrate that tomorrow, or yesterday, and very cool, today we have somebody whose passion is D-Day. So we have Jack, I believe his last name is pronounced Worfel? Can you say it for me, Worfel? I got it right.
That's wonderful. And Jack is a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor. And can you imagine recalling the moments of D-Day in that history, and he's actually one in five young Americans who, no, no, excuse me, I wanted to mention also, unfortunately this is a tragedy beyond belief, that literally one in five young Americans, and I'm not talking about all Americans, but young Americans believe that the Holocaust is a myth and don't even know what D-Day is.
And so hopefully, by Jack's passion here, by describing these things, we can help people see that this is no myth. Unfortunately, Jack, you kind of lived that, but D-Day was a big day for you. Yes, it was.
Yes. And so your family, were they, you know, how did you end up being part of the Holocaust? Well, you know, we lived in Austria, in Vienna, my parents, my father, my mother, my brother, and myself.
And we had a very happy, good life in my first few years. My father worked in Vienna. He took a little train every morning to Vienna. He worked for Mr. Schulich, the president of Austria. And it was a very happy life that we had at that time. And until all of a sudden the news came that there would be a possibility that Adolf Hitler would walk into Austria with his troops, which we called the Anschluss, or he called it the Anschluss, and make Austria part of Germany.
And naturally that was a big shock to all of us. My father, by the way, was Catholic. He was from Linz, Austria. His family was very Catholic. As a matter of fact, he had two sisters who became nuns, who are nuns. And my mother is Jewish. And her maiden name is Baruch. And her parents worked at that time in Berlin, in Berlin, Germany. And when the time came that my life became pregnant with myself, when my mother became pregnant with myself, my mother decided that she wanted to go to her mother's house and have me born there. My grandparents at that time lived in Dresden, Germany.
So she traveled from Vienna to Dresden. And I was born there on June 15, 1932. And once I was born, then we went back to Austria, where of course we lived as a family. And I had a brother who was a year and a half older than I am. And we had a very happy life.
My father had a good job with Mr. Schulich, the president of Austria. And we had a very nice house in this little place called Gutenstein, which is right outside of Vienna. And we had a good life. And, you know, as a little kid, I remember on weekends, so whenever it was, that we would go for nice long walks, my whole family up in the mountains. And I remember even such crazy things as big snails who lived along the path up the mountain to the top where we would try to get all the way up. Funny little things that we remember, you know, and I still remember that. Yeah, I'd almost, you know, for those of us that are Sound of Music fans, you know, it echoes a little bit of that story, right? Yeah.
Yeah, that's true. Anyway, the time came that Hitler decided, okay, we'll walk into Austria. And Austria was very, very much against it.
The government was not agreeing with Hitler at all, the Austrian government. So one day, all of a sudden, he is out of Hitler with his troops in Vienna, marching through the streets. And before that happened, of course, my father knew this was going to happen.
And so did Mr. Schoenig, naturally. As Hitler came in, the Nazis came in, the first thing they did is they imprisoned Mr. Schoenig, the president of Austria, and my father, who worked with him. And they were both taken to a concentration camp right north of Berlin.
My mother, in the meantime, being Jewish, she was naturally very worried as to what happened to the whole family and to her. So she went to Czechoslovakia and got herself an apartment in Prague and lived in Prague for, I guess it was about a couple years almost. Were you there with her?
No, I was not there with her. My parents, before all of this happened, they sent us to Berlin of all places, to my grandparents, where they lived at that time. My grandfather, my grandmother, my uncle, relatives of mine lived in Berlin. Berlin was actually at that time rather not as stringent with the Nazis as other places in Germany because Berlin was fully staffed by Jewish doctors, Jewish professors, Jewish writers, Jewish musicians, and all of that. And it wasn't that easy, I guess, for the Nazis to replace those kind of people with those professions so quickly.
So they let that go a little bit longer than other parts of Germany. Were your grandparents Jewish? Yes, of course. They were my mothers. Well, I hate we've got to go to a break.
Jack, we are going to go to a break. I'm sure, like me, you're enthralled by the story. The idea of the Holocaust was certainly not a myth. And again, the good news is D-Day is coming June 6th. As we celebrate that, it's wonderful to look back and see how God came to the rescue. So we'll be right back with a whole lot more Kingdom Pursuit. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits, where we hear how God takes your passion and uses it to build the Kingdom, and we're so blessed to have with us today Jack Werfel.
He is a 30-year-old Holocaust survivor, and as he recalls moments of D-Day, it can't help us wonder, you know, you can't help but wonder how one in five young Americans think the Holocaust is a myth. And Jack, you're not aware, but in Kingdom Pursuits, we have this little section where we've got to lighten the mood a little bit, and we just give our listeners a chance to call in and win some things. And so if you'll just bear with us as we go through this, but I couldn't help but think that, you know, speaking of myths. And so Nick, my producer, and Randy are in there. You know, feel free to get on a mic, Randy, because we need your help here. So, you know, to get to these riddles, always more fun when my music is going on. There we go. So this one, actually, when I came across it, I laughed for a good 10 minutes, okay?
So I want you to put your thinking caps on. So where does a myth buster sleep? Where does a myth buster, Randy, feel free to jump in here. Where does a myth buster sleep?
Where does a myth buster sleep? Hmm. Yeah. You got it, Randy. Oh. No, eat it. I don't know. We might be stumped over here. Okay.
He sleeps in the bunk bed. Okay. Okay. Myth busting. Yes, I knew you'd like that.
I thought it was hilarious myself, but that's okay. So how about the myth of cow tipping? Maybe you've heard that one.
Do you know how it started, Nick? Cow tipping. Have you never heard of cow tipping? I haven't. I've heard of it.
I've never done it before. It's a myth. Okay. And so I understand it.
It started as a result of farmers didn't pay their cows competitive wages, you know? So yeah. Yeah. And so maybe you've heard of the cow that produces chocolate milk that tastes like the stuff of myths.
How did that happen? The cow that produced chocolate milk that tasted like the stuff of myths. Hmm. Okay.
You got me stumped on that one as well. It's legendary. Legendary. There you go. It's legendary.
So you know at the end of those shenanigans and our lighter side of this particular episode, here comes the question that you can call in and win at 866-348-7884. This question, 866-348-7884, tell us what book did Gideon and his dad have a myth understanding about asterisk poles? Did you say myth or myth? Well, if you know the story, Gideon and his dad, they had a myth understanding about asterisk poles.
What books was that found in? And if you can call in and tell us that, Nick, tell them what they'll win. Absolutely.
Yes. Listen up baseball fans. We will be winning four tickets to the Winston-Salem dash as they go against the Bowling Green hot rods as this coming Wednesday, June 11th at 6 30. If you know the answer to Robbie's riddles, give us a call at 866-348-7884. That's 866-34-TRUTH. Go dash.
What book did Gideon and his dad have a myth understanding about asterisk poles? 866-348-7884. And I have to tell you that we have not only stocked the Kingdom Pursuits prize vault with dash tickets so you can be dashing through our show in a, you know, one of our Chevrolet or something, but nonetheless, we have a new supply. Nick, I know you're going to be excited because we've given away all our legendary speaking of legendary Kingdom Pursuits gospel back scratchers. Yeah, we ran low. And so I got a new a new supply of Kingdom Pursuits gospel back scratchers.
So you not only can scratch somebody's back, which is just biblical to begin with, then you can share the gospel with them as it has these little colored beads, you know, that that will help you share the gospel while scratching their back. All you have to do is call with what book did Gideon and his dad have a myth understanding 866-348-7884. And I am so honored, really honored to have Jack Werfel with us. And when we left him in his story, he'd gone his mother had gone to Czechoslovakia. That sounds difficult because we know that Hitler was going there too. But then he had gone to his grandparents in Berlin. But they too were obviously rounding up Jews. And so we'll pick up the story there, Jack, if you could continue for us.
Yeah, God, happily. Yeah, so we were in Berlin, we started school there, my brother and I and lived with our grandparents. And then things got a little hotter in Berlin, too. And my grandparents, my grandfather happened to know a little summer camp on the North Sea in northern Germany. And he was stationed there, near there, while he was a soldier during the First World War.
He was a German soldier, fighting in France at that time. So anyway, my grandfather, because he knew that place, he happened to know a lady there who owned a summer camp on the beach, right on the North Sea. And he decided to send my brother and myself there for safety. Luckily, just before all of that happened, my parents before I told you what happened to my parents already, they had already taken us to a Catholic church and had us baptized Catholic, my brother and I. So that was a good protection for us during the period of the Nazis, because every time they ask us, well, who are you and what's your nationality and your religion and all of that, we could always say that we're Catholic.
So that was a big, big protection for us. And we went to the summer camp in northern Germany, run by a lady by the name of Tante Erma. She was a wonderful lady.
She actually became a second mother, so to speak. And we lived there with her and went to school. And we had a teacher, we went to school there.
It was a very small country school with two classrooms. And we had a wonderful teacher there who happens to be a friend of Tante Erma, the lady who ran the home. And they both knew about my grandfather. And they both knew that because we were sons of a Jewish mother, we were considered Jewish.
So they both knew it. And thank God they protected us and they were very much with us. And we actually lived with Tante Erma there for 17 years. In the meantime, of course, until you were 17, right? Yeah, until I was 17. I didn't live there 17 years. Until I was 17. I got there when I was 6 years to the summer camp.
Wow, so 11 years, yeah. And so what was happening with your grandfather or your mother? Your father was already in the concentration camp, right?
Yes, yes. Well, also what happened in the meantime was that Hitler walked into Czechoslovakia and into Prague. And there were a lot of Jewish people there. And of course, the same thing happened there.
It was a disaster. So my mother somehow got out of Czechoslovakia. And I understand that she escaped Czechoslovakia at that time on a cold train to go back to her parents in Berlin, which she did. And for a short period of time when she was in Berlin, she had us come from our summer camp and live with her and we started school there in Berlin, IDEC, when I was 6 years old. But my mother, of course, found out, of course, by the Nazis and she was imprisoned by the Nazis. And we got to see her one more time when we went into the jail. We found out where the jail was that she was in and my brother and I being little kids, we just walked in and clearly no one really bothered us. So we got to meet our mother in her cell for the last time.
And she was, God, so worried. Boys, what are you doing here? How do you get into the cell? If they catch you, the same thing is going to happen to you that may happen to our relatives and to myself. So get out of here. You know that I love you forever.
You love me forever. We hope to be together again someday, very soon. But in the meantime, leave this prison and escape.
And we did. And before my mother, before all of this happened when we were 11 in Berlin, she had told me if anything ever happens to me that I'm not with you, I have a friend who is an attorney here and I give you his phone number and you call him and if I'm in prison or in trouble, you call him and he will take care of you and make sure that things are going to happen okay for you, for you boys. Wow, Jack, I hate to interrupt again, but there's a second break. What a story. Wow. Yeah, it's real.
The Holocaust is certainly real. And what a heartwarming story in so many different ways that people come to your aid, but it's a scary situation. So we'll be right back with a whole lot more Kingdom Pursuit.
Stay tuned. You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits where we hear how God gives you passion and uses it to build the kingdom. And today, what an amazing story we're hearing and what a treasure that God has kept Jack Werf alive. To share it with us, he's a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor and survivor sounds like the story of Jack's life, his family's life. You can hear all that through the story. And by the way, you're just tuning in and you want to hear the rest of the story, you can get the podcast later today either at kingdompursuits.com or truthnetwork.com when it posts it, you'll find it there on the recent podcast.
But what an amazing story. And at this point in the story, it appears that Jack is now at a camp where he would live 11 years of his life in northern Germany as unfortunately, I can't imagine the horror of his father at a prison in Austria with the president of Austria. His mother having escaped Czechoslovakia, you know, she escaped from Austria to Czechoslovakia, then went to Berlin with her parents and unfortunately, she was imprisoned and I would imagine her parents as well. But when we left the story, her mother had told Jack that she had a friend who was an attorney and to call him if something happened and I can't imagine my mom's been imprisoned as a Jew and knowing what was going on at that time.
You guys called the attorney, right Jack? Yes, of course we did. By the way, my mother, the last time we saw her in that German jail was the last time we ever saw her in our lives and the last time we ever talked to her and she was taken by the Nazis to Auschwitz and she was killed there. Anyway, to get back to the summer camp where we lived and had some people who really protected us and understood what our problems were, was just a blessing for Peter and myself. Now the lady who ran the camp had a daughter and a son and she said, you know, my children are in the Hitler Youth and the reason they're in the Hitler Youth is because all the kids, you have to be in the Hitler Youth. You have no other choice and if you are not and if you are living in that area, people are going to ask, well, how come they are not in the Hitler Youth? So my brother and I, Peter and I, in order to save our lives, we also joined the Hitler Youth and went to their meetings and their sports things and we learned how to fire weapons like hand grenades and bazookas and stuff like that. It was just a tough life with Hitler. In the meantime, all of my parents, all of my relatives in Berlin were shipped east and they were all killed in various concentration camps.
I'd like to tell you another story. When we were about 10, 12 years old, Peter and I at night, we sometimes would listen to the British Broadcasting Company to find out what was really going on because the German Guard canceled it with something but lights usually. So one day, we listened to the British Broadcasting Company and here we heard that the Allies had landed in Normandy.
Oh my God, this was fabulous for us. Now we knew that, well, if they would succeed, that would be the end of the Third Reich, the end of Hitler and we were still alive at this time. So to get to that part of the story, Jack, I'm kind of surprised, right? You of course grew up in Austria, which is where Hitler was from originally, right?
Yes. And then you lived most of your life in Germany and I know that you grew up amongst all the propaganda of the power of the Third Reich, yet it sounds like the moment you knew that they landed at Normandy, you knew of the weakness of the Third Reich or something. You would have thought, well, this is just a continuation of the war that you would have not necessarily thought that the Third Reich could be beaten. Well, we were very much hoping that the Third Reich would be beaten and they were. Yes, they were.
Yeah. And when the war was over, I tell you a little story here. Just before the war was over and we listened to the BBC, I mentioned to you that we knew about what happened in Normandy.
When the war was over, by then the Allies were fairly successful already into going into France and liberating Paris at that time. In the meantime, we were so lucky that the American army, when they came into southern Germany, they found out about Chusnik and my father and what happened to my parents and to us and where we lived. And we had made application if there would be a possibility to come to the United States and we just really never heard. And then the American army called us and said, if you two boys still want to come to the United States army, we're happy to take you. And sure enough, the US government took us to New York and we lived in Berlin and eventually ended up in Baltimore, which is another story, which I can tell you anytime. But what happened then, I went to school when I was in Baltimore and had a little job, but primarily I wanted to learn English so that if I would ever be drafted, because at that time the Korean war was going on and people were being drafted, I wanted to make sure that I spoke enough English so after the war that I could go to college.
So this is what happened. Sure enough, I was drafted and had basic training with the 101st Airborne Division in Kentucky. And when everybody went to Korea in my company, they called me and said, welcome, we just noticed from your Form 20, from your personal file, that you speak German perfectly. And we, the American army, we need desperately interpreters who can speak German and write German in Germany where we are occupying Germany. So that's the one thing.
Yeah. So anyway, I went back to Germany as an interpreter in the American army. One day my company commander called me in and said, Wilbur, I've been noticing that when you walk from your office after your billets, to our billets here, you have a very straight, good walk. And I would really like to make a suggestion, and it's up to you to decide, for you to be in the color guard for the first infantry division that you're in. And as far as I was concerned, yeah, it was fantastic, you know, it was an honor as far as I was concerned. So I became a member of the color guard carrying the American flag for the first infantry division in Germany as an interpreter working there. So a few months later, all of a sudden I got a call from my company commander and said, Wilbur, you're going to go to Normandy. I said, Normandy? Why am I going to Normandy? He said, well, it's a 10-year anniversary of an important day, which we call D-Day.
And D-Day is the day of our life. Oh, my goodness. And at this point, we come to another break, Jack. That's, ah, man, it makes me cry to think that there you are 10 years later in the color guard of the 101st Airborne Division, which is an unbelievable division of the U.S. Army. Wow, what an amazing, amazing story. So we're going to hear more from Jack when we come back. I thank you all so much for listening, and I'm anxious to hear the rest of your listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. Welcome back to Kingdom Pursuits today.
What an honor we have. And the more I hear, the more I realize God honored us today by having such an amazing story. You can see God, you know, story weaved all the way through Jack Werfel's story.
He's a 93-year-old Holocaust survivor, and I don't want to take a single moment because we just have about seven or eight minutes left with Jack. So Jack, you were there at D-Day 10 years later. Did the people around, did you have some friends that you could actually share what was really going on in your heart as you actually brought the American flag through there in Normandy in, obviously it must have been, in 1954?
Yeah, it was just fantastic. No, there were really not too many friends or people that I had that knew about it except people in the military who were with me. But I can only tell you what an amazing, amazing feeling to be an American soldier carrying, being on the Kallagardt, carrying the American flag and ending up at Omaha Beach in the Normandy where so many, thousands of our boys had died. And we went to the course through the cemeteries and honored them. And all the other countries who participated in the invasion, they all had sent their Kallagards and their honor troops there also. And we all had a big tent, each one of us near Cannes where we lived.
And one morning they called me at five o'clock in the morning and they said, Kallagardt from the United States, you're wanted on the beach. So we went to the beach, to Omaha Beach, which was really the place, Omaha, where the 1st Infantry Division took such a tremendous beating and lost most of their men. And we went there and they took us to a place which was actually the grave of General Roosevelt, who was the son of President Roosevelt. He was a general, he was one of his sons, and he was killed during the Normandy invasion.
I did not know that. Was he really? Yeah. Yeah, he was.
Oh yeah. And so they took us to his grave. With our flags. And we had a bugler with us. And we dipped the flags over the British Channel, which was in front of us and the sun was rising. And we dipped the flag and the bugler played.
And we knew we were at General Roosevelt's grave to honor his heroism and losing him as a general and as a very important person in the United States. So I can't tell you the feelings I had. I mean, to this day, I get goosebumps whenever I think about it or tell the story, what my feelings were that morning at five o'clock on the beach at Omaha Beach.
It was absolutely unbelievable. Yeah, I got to tell you, like, what a story. I hope it finds its way into a book, Jack, or something, because it's just like, it's so clear to me that your father was the assistant to the president of Austria.
I mean, this was a very important man. Your mother was obviously a brilliant lady and very resourceful. Your grandparents were amazing. So you came from an amazing family. I can hear that in so many different ways, just in your mother's last words to you. And yet, you know, the story goes on in a way that you were attached to America as they landed that day at D-Day. And now your family's American, right? I can hear. Is that your daughter that's with you? Absolutely, totally.
Yeah, I'm here. Yes, well, thank you for your help today. But I can't think how amazing, how lucky a country we are to have such a distinguished gentleman who's been through so much. And now your family is pouring this story of complete honor. Even for President Roosevelt's father, I had no idea.
What an amazing thing. And so, Jack, do you see God weaved through your life story? Yes, I do. And you know, obviously, you have deep connections to Judaism, and at the same time, deep connections to the Catholic Church. And the woman that kept you for 11 years, was she Catholic as well? No, she was.
She really had no religion. She was strictly German, and to end this… Just had a great heart. Well, I hate that this show is over.
I really do, Jack. You have amazed me. Your daughter has amazed me. The story has amazed me. I do hope someday it will be in a book, because we need to know things like this that God has walked you through. You are an amazing man.
God bless you, sir. So, I just wanted to mention to you, it isn't a book. My dad wrote a book. It's called My Two Lives, and it outlines his whole story. His first life is in Europe, and then he considers his second life once he got to the U.S. as his second life. And he wrote this book about two and a half, two years ago. And it is accessible on Amazon if anyone's interested in reading about it. Wonderful.
It's called My Two Lives. I will post that at my website. I am so grateful for you guys. God bless you. Thank you. God bless you as well. Thank you. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Bye-bye.
