How the magic of kindness helped me survive the Holocaust | Werner Reich

譯者: Zeddi Lee 審譯者: Melody Tang

In the rather delightful book "The Little Prince,"

在《小王子》這本令人愉快的書中

there is a quotation, which says

有一句話說道：

"It's only with the heart that one can see rightly.

「只有用心才能看得清楚，

What is essential is invisible."

真正重要的是看不見的。」

And while the author wrote these words sitting in a comfortable chair,

當作者在美國某處， 坐在舒適的椅子上寫這些話時，

somewhere in the United States,

I learned this very same lesson

我遠在波蘭一個

miles away in a filthy, dirty barrack

死亡集中營的骯髒營房裡，

in an extermination camp in Poland.

學到了同樣的教訓。

It isn't the value or the size of a gift that truly matters,

真正重要的不是禮物的價值或大小，

it is how you hold it in your heart.

重要的是你如何把它放在心裡。

When I was six years old,

在我六歲的時候，

my mother, my father, my sister and myself

我的母親、父親、妹妹和我

left Jew-hating Germany, and we went to Yugoslavia.

離開了憎恨猶太人的德國， 去到南斯拉夫。

And we were in Yugoslavia for seven happy years,

我們在南斯拉夫度過了 七年的快樂時光。

and then Germany invaded Yugoslavia

然後德國入侵南斯拉夫，

and we suddenly were persecuted again,

我們突然再次受到迫害，

and I had to go into hiding.

我不得不躲藏起來。

And I was hiding for roughly two years

我和一對從事反抗運動工作的夫妻

with a couple who had worked for the resistance movement.

一起躲藏了大約兩年。

And I developed films, and I made enlargements.

我沖洗相片，還會放大相片。

One day, when I was 15 years old,

在 15 歲的某天，

I was arrested by the gestapo

我被蓋世太保逮捕，

and beaten up,

並遭到毆打。

and, for two months, dragged through various prisons,

在兩個月的期間裡， 我被關在各種監獄，

and eventually, I ended up

最後被關在捷克斯洛伐克

in a 150-year-old fortress in Czechoslovakia,

一座有 150 年歷史的堡壘。

which the Nazis had converted into a concentration camp.

納粹將其改造為集中營。

I was there for 10 months.

我在那裡待了 10 個月。

I laid railroad tracks,

我鋪設鐵軌，

I exterminated vermin,

撲殺害蟲，

I made baskets,

製作籃子。

and after 10 months,

10 個月後，

about 2,000 of us were loaded into cattle cars,

我們大約有 2,000 人 被裝上載牛的車，

the doors were closed, and we were shipped east.

車門關上，被運往東部。

For three days, we traveled like that,

我們這樣旅行了三天，

and when we were unloaded,

當我們下車時，

we were smelling of urine and of feces,

滿身屎尿味，

and we found ourselves in the Auschwitz extermination camp.

並發現自己身在 奧斯威辛滅絕集中營。

A camp that, by that time,

那個集中營在那之前

had murdered already over one million people

已經謀殺了 100 多萬人，

and sent them through the chimney into the sky.

並經由煙囪把他們送上天空。

We arrived, we were stripped of all of our properties,

我們到了，隨身的所有東西都被拿走。

whatever we had,

and were given striped uniforms,

他們發條紋制服給我們，

were given a tattoo on our arms,

在我們的手臂上紋身，

and we also were given the message

並通知我們

that we would be there for exactly six months.

將在那裡待整整六個月。

And after that, we would leave the camp.

在那之後，

我們將由煙囪離開營地。

Through the chimney.

We were assigned to different barracks.

我們被分配到不同的營房。

And the barracks were filled with wooden bunks,

營房裡擺滿了木造的多層床舖，

six people on each level,

每層睡六個人，

three people sleeping in one direction and three in the other direction,

三個人朝一個方向睡覺， 其他三個人睡另一個方向。

so whichever way you slept,

所以無論你睡哪個方向，

you always had a pair of feet in your face.

你的臉總是對著一雙腳。

The man next to me was an extremely nice gentleman,

我旁邊的那個人 是個非常和善的紳士，

and he introduced himself as Mr. Herbert Levine.

他說他是赫伯特·萊文先生。

Mr. Levine was kind and polite to me.

萊文先生對我很好，很有禮貌。

One day, when I came back from a work assignment,

有一天當我從工作任務回來時，

I climbed up,

我爬上了

I was at the top level of the three-tier bunk,

三層床的頂層，

and there was Mr. Levine with a deck of cards.

萊文先生在那裡拿著一副撲克牌。

And he was shuffling these cards.

他正在洗牌。

And I couldn't understand it, you know,

我無法理解，

having a deck of cards in Auschwitz

因為在奧斯威辛有一副撲克牌，

was like finding a gorilla in your bathroom.

就像是在浴室裡看到一隻大猩猩。

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

You know, "What is he doing there?"

我心想：「他在那裡做什麼？」

And then Mr. Levine turned to me

然後萊文先生轉過身來，

and offered me the deck, and said, "Pick a card."

拿著撲克牌，他說：「選一張牌。」

So I picked a card,

於是我挑了一張牌。

and he performed a card trick for me.

他為我表演了一個紙牌把戲。

He performed a miracle.

他表演了一個奇蹟。

And I'd never seen a card trick before,

我以前從未見過紙牌戲法，

and the man who performed it was sitting right there.

現在表演的人卻就坐在那裡。

And then Mr. Levine did the unthinkable.

然後萊文先生做了件 不可思議的事情。

He actually explained the trick to me.

他向我解釋了這個把戲的竅門。

And the words got burned into my brain.

這些話烙在我腦海裡，

And I remembered every single word,

我記得每一個字。

and from that day on,

從那天起，

I practiced that trick every day.

我每天都練習這個把戲。

Although I didn't have any cards.

雖然沒有撲克牌，

I just kept on practicing.

我還是繼續練習。

About three weeks later,

大約三周後，

the entire camp, with the exception of a couple hundred of us,

除了我們幾百人外， 整個營裡的人都被送去毒氣室了。

were sent to the gas chambers.

I was sent to another camp where I worked in the stables,

我被送到另一個集中營， 在那裡的馬廄工作。

and then, in January 1945,

然後在 1945 年 1 月，

when the Russians advanced,

當俄國人進軍時，

60,000 of us were sent on a death march.

我們有 60,000 人 被派去參加死亡行軍。

And we walked for three days, on and off,

我們在嚴冬中，

走走停停地走了三天。

and in the middle of the winter,

and by the time we arrived at a railroad siding,

當我們到達鐵路旁時，

out of the 60,000 people,

60,000 人中的

15,000 had died.

15,000 人已經死了。

And the rest of us were loaded into open railroad cars,

我們其餘的人 被裝上開放式的火車廂，

and for four days, shipped all the way from Poland down to Austria.

用四天時間， 從波蘭一路運到奧地利。

And we found ourselves in a death camp,

我們發現自己

身在一個叫做 毛特豪森的死亡集中營，

in a concentration camp called Mauthausen,

which again was built like a fortress.

這個集中營也建得像堡壘一樣。

And at that point, the SS abandoned us,

那時納粹武裝黨衛隊 早已拋棄了我們，

and there was no food there,

那裡沒有食物，

and there were thousands and thousands of bodies there.

只有成千上萬的屍體。

I slept for three days next to a dead man,

我在一個死人旁邊睡了三天，

just to get his ration of a tablespoon of moldy bread.

只是為了得到他的那份 一湯匙份量的發黴麵包口糧。

And two days before the end of the war, May 5,

戰爭結束前兩天，5 月 5 日，

we were liberated by American forces.

我們被美軍解放了。

At that time, I was 17 years old,

我當時 17 歲，

and I weighed 64 pounds.

體重 64 磅。

And I hitchhiked back to Yugoslavia.

我搭便車回南斯拉夫。

And when I came back to Yugoslavia,

當我回到南斯拉夫時，

there was communism there,

那裡有共產主義，

there was no family there

但沒有家人，

and there were no friends there.

也沒有朋友。

I stayed there for two years,

我在那裡待了兩年，

and after two years, I managed to escape to England.

兩年後，我設法逃到了英國。

And when I came to England,

當我來到英國時，

I couldn't speak English,

我不會說英語，

I had no education, I had no skills.

我沒有受過教育，也沒有技能。

I started working,

我開始工作。

and about a year after I arrived in England,

來到英國的大約一年後，

I bought myself a deck of cards.

我給自己買了一副撲克牌。

And for the very first time,

這是我第一次實際表演了

I actually performed the trick

that was shown to me in Auschwitz on top of a bunk bed.

在奧斯威辛集中營的 上層鋪學到的把戲。

And it worked.

我做到了。

It worked beautifully.

效果很好。

And I showed it to some friends of mine,

我把它展示給我的一些朋友，

and they loved it.

他們很喜歡。

And I went to a magic store, and I bought some magic tricks,

我去了一家魔術店， 買了一些魔術道具，

and I showed them to my friends,

表演給朋友看，

and I bought some more magic tricks

我再買了一些魔術道具，

and I showed it to them.

再表演給他們看。

And then I bought some magic books, and I bought some more magic books.

然後我買了一些魔術的相關書籍，

後來又買了更多。

There's a very, very thin line

嗜好和精神錯亂間的界限很難分辨。

between a hobby and insanity.

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Anyway, I got married,

不管怎樣，我結了婚，

and I came to the United States,

我來到了美國，

and one of the first jobs that I had

剛開始做的工作之一，

demanded from me to speak to small groups of people.

我必須演說，對象都是一小群人。

And I managed it, I was very good at it.

我勝任那份工作，而且很擅長。

And then, 25 years ago, I retired.

25 年前，我退休了。

And I started speaking in schools.

我開始在學校演說。

And the only reason why I could speak in schools

我之所以能在學校演說的唯一原因，

is because a very friendly man

就是因為一位非常友善的人，

showed a rather scared kid a card trick

在集中營裡向一個害怕的孩子

in a concentration camp.

表演了一個紙牌把戲。

This man who showed it to me, Mr. Levine,

教我把戲的這個人，萊文先生，

had been a professional magician.

是位職業魔術師。

He worked in Germany,

他當時在德國工作，

and when he came to Auschwitz, the SS knew who he was,

當他被送到奧斯威辛時， 納粹武裝黨衛隊知道他是誰，

so they gave him some cards,

所以給了他一些撲克牌、

they gave him a piece of string,

一根繩子、

they gave him some dice,

一些骰子，

and he performed for them.

來為他們表演。

And then he also taught some of them.

他還教他們一些把戲。

He survived the war,

他在戰爭中倖存下來，

but his wife and his son died.

但他的妻子和兒子都死了。

He came to the United States and performed in various venues,

他來到美國，並在各種場合表演，

but I never met him again.

但我再也沒有見到他。

But the trick that he showed me stayed with me

但是他教我的把戲永遠跟我在一起，

and enabled me to go around schools

讓我可以到處在學校裡，

and try to make this world just a little bit better.

試著讓這個世界變得更好一點。

So if you ever know somebody who needs help,

所以如果你遇到需要幫助的人，

if you know somebody who is scared,

如果你遇到害怕的人，

be kind to them.

請善待他們，

Give them advice,

給他們建議，

give them a hug,

給他們擁抱，

teach them a card trick.

教他們紙牌竅門。

Whatever you are going to do,

無論你做什麼，

it's going to be hope for them.

都是他們的希望所在。

And if you do it at the right time,

如果你適時這樣做，

it will enter their heart,

就會進到他們的心中。

and it will be with them wherever they go, forever.

不管他們走到哪裡， 都會永遠與他們同在。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Applause)

（掌聲）