“If I'd had a button to wipe out the whole of Germany, I would have pressed it”
Albrecht Weinberg, 99, in his home in Leer, Germany, June 4, 2024. A survivor of Auschwitz, Mittelbau-Dora, and Bergen-Belsen, he endured forced labor, three death marches, and the loss of most of his family in the Holocaust.Albrecht Weinberg in his room in Leer, Germany, on June 4, 2024. He now lives with his former caregiver and kindred spirit, Gerda Dänekas, in the East Frisian town of Leer.The former Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp on April 16, 2024. In early 1945, Albrecht Weinberg was transported here and forced to perform labor in the underground tunnels. When Mittelbau-Dora was evacuated in April 1945, the SS transferred him to Bergen-Belsen, where he was liberated on April 15, 1945.The hand of Albrecht Weinberg, photographed at a restaurant in Nordhausen on April 15, 2024.Albrecht Weinberg, Holocaust survivor, at the commemoration of the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the former Ellrich-Juliushütte subcamp of the concentration camp. On the left: eyewitness Inge Eisenächer. Ellrich, April 16, 2024.Albrecht Weinberg on the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the former Ellrich-Juliushütte subcamp, standing before the kitchen wall. On average, 8,000 male concentration camp prisoners lived here. Ellrich, April 16, 2024.Crematorium at the former Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp on April 16, 2024. Of the more than 20,000 victims of Mittelbau-Dora, at least 5,000 were cremated here. An original so-called "Judenstern" from the Theresienstadt concentration camp, held by Albrecht Weinberg. Leer, June 4, 2024.Albrecht Weinberg and Gerda Dänekas in their shared apartment. She gave him the strength to speak about his experiences at schools and in lectures, sharing his story. Photographed in Leer on June 4, 2024.Commemoration of the 79th anniversary of the liberation of the Ellrich-Juliushütte subcamp, April 16, 2024.
116927: This is the number tattooed on the forearm of 99-year-old Albrecht Weinberg, a permanent reminder of his time in the concentration camps.Albrecht Weinberg at the Jewish cemetery in Leer, photographed on June 4, 2024. In February 2024, people overturned three gravestones, removed a sign, and damaged the entrance gate. The rise of anti-Semitism and the growing influence of the AfD deeply worry him.
He was a prisoner in Auschwitz, escaped the Holocaust and found a new home in New York. Albrecht Weinberg, now 99, only returned to East Frisia as an old man. Was it a mistake?