Holocaust Survivor Testimonies - Cassie Brasher

Alfred Caro was from Sampter, Germany. His family were very proud Germans and his father even fought for Germany in WWI. Caro mentioned that before the nazis, Germans and Jews got along just fine. He even had German friends. Inflation and other economic problems after WWI caused people to start blaming each other for problems. The Nazis put the blame on the Jews. In April of 1933 the Nuremberg laws were made and life for the Jews completely changed. These laws took away all of their rights.Caro says, "From these days on we weren't people anymore." Alfred Caro was taken to a concentration camp called Saxenhoussen in June of 1938. He says that they had nothing and "If you are alive you are lucky." Caro described how people were shot if they crossed the line of the camp even if they just stepped over because they were dizzy. He mentioned that they had water for breakfast, "water soup" for lunch, and a piece of bread for dinner. Everyone thought that this treatment was temporary and that they would be moved somewhere where they could actually live a real life again. Caro was only in Saxenhoussen for about 6 weeks. His mother was constantly asking around and trying to figure out why they were being kept there. She eventually talked to a Nazi that used to be a friend of theres, then a couple of days later they signed a paper and a police officer told them they were free. After he got out he moved to Berlin and had to say goodbye to his family. Saying goodbye to them was his consequence of surviving.