Meet Thomas Blatt… He’s One of Four Living Survivors of a WWII Revolt, Speaking TONIGHT at multikulti
By chicago-pipeline at August 20, 2011 | 1:44 pm | Print
Last night we’d popped by Noble Square’s multikulti center for the purpose of attending the Chicago Community Darkroom’s opening reception, though we noticed a gentleman by himself in a booth in a darkened corner and reading a book.
“Hey, are you the Holocaust survivor?” we asked, figuring that this could possibly be the man featured on the posters downstairs scheduled to give a series of three lectures this weekend, kicking off at 6PM tonight (SAT), along with a screening of the 1987 made for TV movie, Escape from Sobibor.
For folks unfamiliar with the movie, it tells the true story of the largest prisoner-led uprising in WWII. Per Wikipedia, of the 600 who revolted, 300 prisoners escaped the death camp on Oct. 14, 1943, after diverting a group of the camp’s SS guards to a location where they would be killed. Ultimately about half of those who escaped were recaptured, and only 47 would survive the war. Thomas “Toivi” Blatt, at age 84, is among just four living survivors of Sobibor, where 250,000 Jews from Poland, France, Germany, and Czechoslovakia were killed along with Soviet prisoners of war (POW).
Blatt was 12 when the Nazis invaded his native Poland. Interned at Sobibor after being betrayed by a farmer whose barn he thought he was safely hiding in, he was assigned to be a shoeshine boy for the camp’s German and Ukrainian SS guards. In addition to shoe shining, Blatt was also responsible for sorting the clothing of the people who went into the camp’s gas chambers. He was just 15 years old at the time of the revolt, of which he’d played a pivotal role in masterminding along with two of his fellow prisoners.
Tonight, Blatt will speak at multikulti on not just the topic of how he escaped and survived, but also raise the question of, “Can it [the Holocaust] happen here in America?”
In conversing with Blatt, where we learned, among other tidbits, that his ex-girlfriend is currently 45 years old and now dating a fella she met on the Internet last year after she and Blatt were together for 20 years, breaking up because she understandably desired children, and Blatt, a father of two from a previous marriage, did not, wanted to make it clear that injustices have occurred throughout American history and his speech will not be unique to just the Holocaust.
“Look what Americans did to the Native Americans, and then the black slaves, and then the Japanese camps,” he observed.
We transitioned to other subjects, like the fact that we too are of Jewish-Russian-Polish origin (on a side note, Blatt’s looks, mannerisms and even the way he speaks reminds us very much of our deceased grandmother), and that Blatt has known many celebrities over the years, including Elizabeth Taylor who is featured in a photo album that he had sitting on the booth’s table and showed us, along with two books which he authored, one of which the Sobibor movie was based on.
Blatt then suddenly wondered if we knew Powerpoint because he needs some help with his presentation (we don’t know the program well enough to help, but if anyone does, feel free to call Blatt ASAP at 425-503-8003!), and if we have a car (we don’t), because he’d like to go to The Red Apple Polish Buffet again before he leaves Chicago. Blatt had dined at the Red Apple the prior night with multikulti’s founder, Wiktor, who initially met Blatt when he was visiting Poland. Blatt, who resides in Santa Barbara, Calif., is a friend of Wiktor’s father and was invited by Wiktor to speak at Multikulti this weekend.
Due to a slight snafu with logistics, Blatt flew into Chicago a few days earlier than planned and reported to The Pipeline that he’d been staying in a room at multikulti.
“What have you been doing? [the past few days],” we asked.
“Oh, I’ve been on Facebook, reading, hanging out,” he said, smiling.
We told Blatt about a single woman that we know, the mother of a friend who lives nearby. “She’s Russian, and Jewish,” we informed him. Blatt seemed very pleased with this, and mentioned that he can speak with her in Russian too. “How old is she?” he asked.
“Maybe 65 or 70,” we replied.
“Eh, too old,” he said, before adding, “Well, at my age I guess I can’t be too choosey, can I? Bring her tomorrow!”
Just then, Wiktor popped by, with a Polish daily newspaper that Blatt had been eagerly awaiting.
Of the paper, Blatt told us, “You can take my wife my kids, but don’t take the newspaper!”
Then we let Blatt enjoy some quality time with his newspaper, and finally checked out the darkroom event, which was winding down. Had we really spent over an hour in the booth chatting up Blatt? When we popped by suite #408, a few of the darkroom’s members were inside the darkroom and experimenting with Ken’s vintage yet working Crown Graphic camera, from the 1950s.
Along with a movie screening of Escape from Sobibor, Blatt will speak tonight, Sat. August 20th, 6-10PM (in English) and tomorrow Sun. 21st 6-10pm (in Polish), and Monday, Aug. 22nd, 6-10PM, at multikulti, 1000 N. Milw, 4th Floor. For a video interview introduction with Blatt, click here.
Find out more about Thomas Toivi Blatt’s account of the Sobibor Extermination Camp on sobibor.info
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