Exhibits

Come see the library's ongoing exhibits, both inside and outside of the library, with books, cds and films about the weekly torah portion, holidays, and temple events, for all ages!

We also are very fortunate to have on display inside the library,  a letter from Dr. Arnold L. Segel, z"l, in whose memory our library is named. Dr. Segel sent this letter to his parents when he was the commanding officer liberating the Ebensee Concentration Camp in 1945.  Below, is the letter, along with a photo of Dr. Segel, posted with permission of the Segel family.  We thank the Segel family for this very moving and educational gift. 

                                                                                     Click on the picture to zoom in.

Here is the text of the letter :

Dear Father,

Sorry I have not had a chance to write in the past few days but again we have been on the move. We were sort of numbed by the news of the capitulation. We first looked around, smiled, and then kept saying to each other that we could hardly believe it. I still cannot believe that every loud noise does not mean a shell or bomb and most of all we find it difficult to believe we can put lights on at night. It will take months for us to adjust.

At the moment our unit is caring for 16,000 prisoners in a notorious concentration camp at Ebensee, right in the heart of the Austrian Alps. It is grim irony that the Germans should place such a festering sore right in the midst of the beautiful Austrian Tyrol.

The job is enormous. When we arrived the inmates were dying at the rate of ... (letter is cut off). They are nothing but living skeletons. They lasted on the average 3 weeks if they were Jewish and 3 months if they were Russians, Poles Chechs (sic. Czechs) or French.

They were required to work 12-14 hours a day on a bowl of thin soup and one loaf of bread for each five men.

The hospital has 3,000 patients with four to five in each bed and many lying on the floor. The dead are not moved for days so that the living and dead share the same beds. It is difficult to tell who is alive. Men lay down on the ground to rest and never get up. They have no shoes or clothing. There are no toilet facilities and most are too weak to go outside so that they just remain lying in their own feces and urine.

The crematory could only handle 80 a day so that there were dead stacked like cord- wood lying all over the camp.

It is revolting, disgusting and so pitiful that all of us had tears streaming down our faces. There are no words or pictures to describe the horror.

General Patton was so incensed that he ordered all cremations stopped. Now all 600 to 1,000 dead are being buried by the German civilians - one for each grave. The bodies are carried exposed thru (sic. Through) the streets of the town and the cemetery is in a public place. A sign saying "German Atrocity Cemetery" is to be erected.

Pits holding thousands of dead are to be cleaned out - by hand - by the Germans and each person buried properly.

I could go on for hours but it is enough. There is no propaganda, no picture no nightmare horrible enough to let you know what savage beasts these people were.

No news about going home yet. Until I see you,

Love,

Arnie

Please show this letter to some of our friends. Everyone should know about this.