As Holocaust survivors continue to vanish, one of the oldest in Miami shares her story

By Lauren Costantino Miami Herald MIAMI Lucy Lowell who survived the deadliest Nazi concentration camp to build a full life in New York City and eventually settle in Miami Beach is among the last of an major and increasingly rare group of people At she s among the oldest living Holocaust survivors in the world It s a population that s disappearing with each passing year Just survivors are estimated to be alive in the modern day over the age of according to a new record It means that the opportunity to hear firsthand stories of endurance in the face of monstrous evil is hastily passing by Within the next six years half of all Holocaust survivors will pass away And percent will pass away with in years according to a population projection document from the Conference on Jewish Material Contends Against Germany also referred to as the Declares Conference The findings are a stark reminder that our time is almost up declared Gideon Taylor president of the Suggests Conference Our survivors are leaving us and this is the moment to hear their voices he revealed Lucy Lowell a Holocaust survivor holds a photo of her and her late husband on Thursday April in Miami Beach Florida Carl Juste Miami Herald TNS And Lowell isn t even the oldest in Florida Another Florida survivor Lithuanian-born Malka Schmulovitz was not long ago honored by the city of Miami Beach on her th birthday Schmulovitz was not available for an interview but notified the Contends Conference that their experiences must never be forgotten To be one of the oldest survivors alive right now at my age tells me we are running our of time Schmulovitz narrated the Maintains Conference We all have a testimony that requirements to be shared Lowell for her part admits trying to put the past behind her as she built a new life in the United States After decades of staying silent about her experience escaping Auschwitz and surviving the Holocaust she once turned down interviews with Steven Spielberg s gang for his Oscar-winning movie Schindler s List she has in recent months decided to share her story At the time with my husband we did not talk about it We wished a new life to enjoy each other and not to dwell on it she reported That change of heart is due in part to a latest gift from researchers long-lost books from Lowell s childhood including a book of biblical pictures she received as an award for good behavior at her religious school in when she was just eight-years-old I was shocked Lowell mentioned pausing to reflect I was shocked Lucy Lowell s books taken from her family are now in her possession Carl Juste Miami Herald TNS A small and stylish woman with a warm smile Lowell of late sat in her Miami Beach apartment on Collins Avenue to reflect on those relics which sparked a flood of painful memories She thumbed through a book of Jewish philosophy that was given to her older brother Gerhard on the day of his bar mitzvah Gerhard was later killed in Auschwitz I remember very well the beautiful party family friends I even remember the dress I wore she reported adding that she was just years old at the time The family books were ascertained in a private collection of stolen Jewish books owned by Julius Streicher a publisher of an antisemitic Nazi newspaper according to The Sunday Times and were returned due to the efforts of a project by JewishGen a stock for Jewish genealogy at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York and the Leo Black Institute Now over years after the liberation of Auschwitz Lowell looks back on a life that was split into two parts the before and after She recalled in an interview with the Miami Herald the events that changed the subject of her life I ve reliably had a good memory What can I say I am lucky that I don t have Alzheimer s or any of those illnesses she disclosed It s still there Lucy Lowell sits in her Miami Beach condo as she reflects on her time in Auschwitz on Thursday April in Miami Beach Florida Carl Juste Miami Herald TNS Remembering the before Before the Holocaust Lowell lived a happy life with her parents and older brother in Berlin She recalls wonderful childhood memories vacationing in the summers with her family and attending the now-famous Olympic Games of where Jesse Owens made history She loved sports dancing and admiring the beautiful things in life her mother s stylish wardrobe for example which sparked an lifelong interest in fashion design Then on Nov with one violent night the life Lowell knew and loved began to crumble Nazis set fire to synagogues including the one attended by Lowell and her family and vandalized thousands of Jewish homes and businesses igniting a wave of violence that killed nearly Jews and led to the arrests and deportations of thousands more The night later became known as Kristallnacht or Night of Broken Glass signaling a turning point in Nazi Germany s persecution against Jewish people moving from social discrimination and propaganda to violence and terror The next several years would mark one of the darkest times in human history both for Lowell and millions of other Jewish people around the world All in all six million European Jews and people from other minorities were killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust As conditions worsened for Jews Lowell s parents made arrangements to live with relatives in New York But due to trip restrictions her family never made it to America The consulates had closed and we did not make it she mentioned The whole living room was packed with boxes and crates and suitcases to ship to America And we got stuck Soon after Lowell s family received a visit one night from Nazi officers who deported the Emmerich s to the Lodz ghetto in Poland We had just finished supper she explained She heard a knock on the door and two Gestapo officers came They disclosed We have to evict you to deport you to Poland So pack what you can carry because there are no bell boys In Lodz Lowell s family lived in primitive conditions among dozens of other families in the same cramped cold barrack Conditions were so unsanitary that Lowell s parents both died from illness possibly typhus a leading epidemic at the time that killed thousands of Jews living in ghettos Lowell recalls laying in the hospital bed for weeks with high fevers her head shaved bald from a lice infection My parents at least they passed away in a bed and not in Auschwitz she declared After she reunited with her brother in the ghetto the two siblings moved out of the barracks and into a small vacancy Lowell was able to work various jobs while living in the ghetto She remembers working in a wheat field planting and sewing skills that felt foreign to her as someone who grew up in a big city and another job working in a Nazi-run factory making household shoes for soldiers When doing the work I would pick wheat and eat it and put various in my pocket to bring back for my brother she reported Lucy Lowell reflects on her time in Auschwitz sharing her journey of finding hope after escaping the concentration camp and living a life marked by grace and kindness on Thursday April in Miami Beach Florida Carl Juste Miami Herald TNS Surviving Auschwitz Then in after the ghetto was liquidated Lowell her brother and two German-speaking coworkers were forced into crowded cattle cars bringing with them whatever they could carry with them for the long journey She didn t know it at the time but Lowell was being transported to Auschwitz When they arrived at the camp soldiers separated the men and women lined them up and ordered them to march in a long line Lowell became separated from her brother during this time There was a famous medical expert His name was Joseph Mengele and he would direct people you go right you go left There were high fences They were electric And we saw one figure there stuck on it because if you required to try to escape this was Auschwitz Joseph Mengele was one of the majority of infamous figures of the Holocaust a ghoul who along with other German researchers conducted terrible biological experiments on prisoners and selected casualties to be murdered in the gas chambers The last time Lowell would see her brother whom she adored was in the concentration camp We were stunned Lowell announced adding that she didn t know what was happening to her at the time She remembers being ordered around by Nazis and living in a barrack with other women in bleak conditions She slept with other prisoners on the concrete floor and was given rags to wear as clothing Lowell was selected with just other women to go and work in a factory where the director of the company was kind enough to give her knitting needles to make clothes He gave us burlap yarn and I knitted myself a beautiful dress she explained I had a dress of my mother s in mind which was so beautiful on her so I tried to knit something just like her dress She doesn t know why or how she was selected her fluent German may have helped but the assignment may have helped save her life Then the Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated on January Lowell was just years old with no immediate family or home left to return to In the aftermath of her time in the camp Lowell relied on the kindness of strangers to get by and slowly but surely she built a new life for herself Lucy Lowell reflects on her time in Auschwitz sharing her journey of finding hope after escaping the concentration camp and living a life marked by grace and kindness on Thursday April in Miami Beach Florida Carl Juste Miami Herald TNS Lowell ended up moving to Flushing Queens to live with her extended family She worked a job in fashion design at an office near Times Square and soon met her late husband Frederick Lowell a businessman in New York City who had also survived a concentration camp She was married at the age of and went on to live a beautiful life in Manhattan where she helped her husband build a business Her days were filled with day trips to the Metropolitan Opera worldwide tour and fun she was once a champion water skier Now in Miami Beach Lowell is an avid reader especially of the news and she loves to watch television and visit with friends She in the last few days shared her story at an event at the Jewish Museum of Florida where she announced people were astonished and sought to take pictures with her after the event After spending the majority of her life avoiding the topic of her survival Lowell wants people to hear her simple yet crucial message You should not hate people You should not discriminate Yes you see what happens she mentioned This story was produced with financial promotion from Trish and Dan Bell and from donors comprising the South Florida Jewish and Muslim Communities including Khalid and Diana Mirza in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work Miami Herald Visit at miamiherald com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC