Holocaust survivor Werner Reich dies at 94

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Werner Reich, who survived Josef Mengele’s experiments and the Mauthausen concentration camp before making his home on Long Island, died July 8 at his Smithtown home. He was 94.

“I think people were expecting this guy who came out of the Holocaust to be mad at the world all the time,” said his son, David. “But he was actually the exact opposite.”

Instead, Werner spent his time volunteering at Glen Cove’s Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, where he was awarded not only its Speaker of the Year, but also its Hadassah Myrtle Wreath Award for Educator of the Year.

“Werner Reich was an original in all aspects of the word,” Andrea Bolender, the center’s director, said. “He was an original founder, educator and leader of the HMTC, and Werner gave his retirement to teaching both students and adults about the dangers of intolerance and hatred of the other.”

Bolender first met Werner in 2005 when he joined the center’s board of directors. Her father, Benek Bolender, was an Auschwitz survivor himself, and she immediately discovered a connection to Werner.

“I felt that every survivor was a parent to me, and I was a child to them,” Bolender said. “He had a wicked sense of humor, and loved to cook and bake. I can still smell the scent of the Viennese crescent cookies he would bake for us when he came to speak.”

Werner Reich was born in Berlin in 1927. He was just a teenager when he taken to the Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp in Poland, and later transferred to Auschwitz I.

American forces liberated him and other prisoners at the camp on May 5, 1945.

A decade later, Werner had married and emigrated to the United States. He would work as an industrial engineer and corporate executive. He would spend 61 years with Eva, spending her final taking care of her before she died in 2016.

Although he lived through the worst atrocities of World War II, Werner didn’t actually begin speaking about what happened until the late 1990s, after the birth of his first grandchild. For him, it was important when this new life came into the world to get his message out. So, Werner started sharing his Holocaust experience, all in the hopes of preventing history from ever repeating itself.

He talked to audiences not only on Long Island, but around the world. Werner spoke as often as 10 times a week — and roughly 100 times a year — at middle schools, high schools, colleges and festivals.

He traveled to England, Germany, Israel, Portugal and China.

“He did more traveling between the ages of 90 and 94 then I’ve done in my lifetime,” said his daughter-in-law, Andrea. “The message of many of Werner’s talks, among sharing his experiences, was urging people to be kinder to their fellow men and women. Yes, he talked about his experiences. Yes, he told everybody about the horrors and the atrocities of the Holocaust. But he had an overriding message of being nice to people, being good and anti-bullying.”

Those who knew Werner say he had a great sense of humor, and always felt that a bad situation could be made better by being happy instead of sad.

“He always tried to look on the bright side,” Andrea said. “We would ask him, ‘How can you always be so positive, because of all the horrible things that have happened to you in life?’ He said that he’d been blessed because he survived, he met his wife — with whom he was in love and raised a family — and had very good grandchildren.”

An avid cook, Werner had a taste for European cuisine and loved experimenting. He made schnitzel, goulash, apple strudel, and his family’s favorite, potato pancakes.

“He could meet somebody at the supermarket and start chatting with them, and the next minute they’re in his kitchen and he’s showing them how to cook a special dish,” Andrea said.

Besides Andrea, Werner is survived by his sons David and Mikal, four grandchildren — Ben, Brooke, Violet and Olive — niece Karen Ziegler, and nephew Robert Romano.

He was a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Psychic Entertainers Association, and he continued to practice magic tricks throughout his life after learning his first trick in a concentration camp.

“They’ll remember him as a very fine, loving man,” David, his son, said. “A very welcoming person, and a very positive person. When people would first meet him, they felt like they were his best friend.”

“Even though he went through a lot of adversity — and it was definitely a horrible experience — he managed to make a very positive happy experience,” Andrea added. “His message, we hope, will resonate forever: You can’t forget the atrocities, but something good could come out of it.”