1. I’m going to try and tell this story without crying, something I have failed to do every time I think about this story, which is often.
2. 9 years ago, during his first year in office and one of his first international trips, @BarackObama visited the Buchenwald concentration camp. One of my closest friends and universally loved White House staffer @joshualipsky asked if he could be on the advance team.
3. Josh’s grandmother was sent to Auschwitz because she was too injured to work, having been brutally beaten by SS guards for singing one day. Her train broke down and she was sent to another camp, where at the infirmary, she met Josh’s grandfather.
4. This is especially relevant in a time, where according to a @nytimes poll, 41% of Americans can’t say what Auschwitz was.
5. Josh’s grandfather, a cook, brought food to the infirmary. With access to the infirmary register, Josh's grandfather substituted his grandmother's name w/the name of an older dying woman. Later still, his grandparents were separated when his grandfather was sent to Buchenwald.
6. After the camps were liberated in 1945, Josh’s grandmother “followed rumors about [Josh’s grandfather] to several German and Polish cities, jumping from trolley to trolley w/ his picture” & found him in Munich. Together, they immigrated to the US, where they had Josh's mother.
7. 9 years ago, my friend Josh returned to Buchenwald, as a representative of the White House, and stood in the kitchen in the same exact place where his grandfather once stood, the same exact place where his grandfather used to sneak potatoes to other prisoners.
8. When Pres. Obama spoke at Buchenwald, he said, “These individuals never could have known the world would one day speak of this place…They could not have known that some of them would live to have children and grandchildren who would grow up hearing their stories..."
9. "They could not have known these things," he said. "But still, surrounded by death, they willed themselves to hold fast to life."
10. After his remarks at Buchenwald, @BarackObama pulled Josh aside for a private moment. Joshua Lipsky, the grandson of Samuel Smulowitz, returned on behalf of the President of the United States, to the concentration camp where his grandfather was once held.
11. Josh told @cparsons his grandfather could never have imagined this moment. She said, “I bet he could.” That’s what Pres. Obama spoke of. Those individuals could never have known their grandchildren would return, no less with the POTUS. But that hope is what kept them alive.
12. I think of this story often and thought of it again today on #HolocaustRemembranceDay. Thank you to @joshualipsky for his permission for me to share this story and to the indomitable @cparsons who tells the story far better than I ever could: articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/07/wo…
13. Please read. Please share. It’s important we remember these stories and never forget. We should honor the Lipsky family and all those who have similar stories. #HolocaustRemembranceDay
14. UPDATE - There's a photo of @joshualipsky and @BarackObama at Buchenwald! Photo credit: @PeteSouza. 😍🇺🇸 
