Michael Bornstein was just a child at Auschwitz, so he remembers few specific details.
“But I do seem to remember the smell,” he said.
Now he understands the source: burning flesh, from the corpses of the people sent to the gas chambers.
“When you grow up, your own kids will probably never get to meet a survivor,” he told a few hundred students at the Chattanooga Convention Center on Thursday morning. “So I’ll tell you my story today. And I ask that you remember it.”
He was prisoner B1148, he said, and rolled up his sleeve to reveal the corresponding tattoo. The students fell into a hushed murmur. There were gasps, an uncomfortable giggle.