AAUW hears Holocaust story

FALLBROOK — Guest speaker Gussie Zaks recently recounted to her rapt audience of Fallbrook Branch American Association of University Women and guests the harrowing events she suffered and survived during the Holocaust of World War II. She told of a three-month-long march from one labor camp to another where most of the participants perished from hunger and abuse. Photos of the horrors of the death camps, mementos of the roundup of Jews and other reminders of the tragedy were shown and displayed.

After five years of suffering and near death from typhus, Zaks was sent to Sweden to recuperate and was later relocated by the International Red Cross to an aunt she had never met in Belgium. From there she found her way to the United States not knowing the language, but somehow, once again, she survived and thrived.

Today Zaks speaks to groups about her ordeal and reminds her audience that hate can’t change anything, only understanding, compassion and, above all, love can. For 44 years Zaks has lived in San Diego County and currently heads an organization of survivors and friends called the New Life Club.