Speaking at a public debate on immigration in 2017, Bernard Marks, who passed away in December 2018 at the age of 89, offered advice that is still relevant in the United States today.<\/p>\n
In order to remind Thomas Homan, the Acting Director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the time, and the Trump administration that history was not on their side, Marks addressed him directly while sporting a sticker that stated,\u00a0\u201cKeep American Families together.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Reading from a piece of paper, he said:\u00a0\u201cWhen I was a little boy in Poland, for no other reason but for being Jewish, I was hauled off by the Nazis.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The 87-year-old then made the heartbreaking admission that, although he had escaped the Auschwitz massacre, his whole family had been killed.<\/p>\n Marks continued,\u00a0\u201cAnd for no other reason I was picked up and separated from my family, who was exterminated in Auschwitz.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAnd I am a survivor of Auschwitz and Dachau.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n He then courageously went on to caution the event\u2019s organizer, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, against assisting Homan in implementing Trump\u2019s harsh deportation policy.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent five and a half years in concentration camps, for one reason and one reason only: because we picked on people,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0he said,\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0CBS Sacramento.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you, as the sheriff, who we elected as sheriff of this county, we did not elect you for sheriff of Washington, D.C. It\u2019s about time you side with the people here.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n He concluded,\u00a0\u201cHistory is not on your side.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n His warning struck a chord with the audience, who erupted in cheers.<\/p>\n Even though the remarkable speech was brief, it made an impact that people are still thinking about today, particularly in light of the Trump administration\u2019s continued uncontested deportation of large numbers of migrants under contentious wartime legislation.<\/p>\n Taking to Reddit, one person\u00a0said<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s a brave man for speaking up and sharing his traumatic experience without fear. And he\u2019s right \u2013 elected officials are treating people like the enemy, and it\u2019s disgusting.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n A second added,\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s right, history is not on the administration\u2019s side. If a Holocaust survivor told you history is not on your side, you listen and do as he says.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s scary how this is so relevant now 8 years later.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Marks emphasized that anti-immigrant\u00a0sentiment<\/a>\u00a0was a\u00a0\u201cdanger that is all too familiar to me\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0in an opinion post for The Sacramento Bee.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dailypositiveinfo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-327-1024x683.png\")
![Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nReading from a piece of paper, he said:\u00a0\u201cWhen I was a little boy in Poland, for no other reason but for being Jewish, I was hauled off by the Nazis.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe 87-year-old then made the heartbreaking admission that, although he had escaped the Auschwitz massacre, his whole family had been killed.<\/p>\nMarks continued,\u00a0\u201cAnd for no other reason I was picked up and separated from my family, who was exterminated in Auschwitz.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cAnd I am a survivor of Auschwitz and Dachau.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHe then courageously went on to caution the event\u2019s organizer, Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, against assisting Homan in implementing Trump\u2019s harsh deportation policy.<\/p>\n\u201cI spent five and a half years in concentration camps, for one reason and one reason only: because we picked on people,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0he said,\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0CBS Sacramento.<\/p>\n\u201cAnd you, as the sheriff, who we elected as sheriff of this county, we did not elect you for sheriff of Washington, D.C. It\u2019s about time you side with the people here.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nHe concluded,\u00a0\u201cHistory is not on your side.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHis warning struck a chord with the audience, who erupted in cheers.<\/p>\nEven though the remarkable speech was brief, it made an impact that people are still thinking about today, particularly in light of the Trump administration\u2019s continued uncontested deportation of large numbers of migrants under contentious wartime legislation.<\/p>\nTaking to Reddit, one person\u00a0said<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s a brave man for speaking up and sharing his traumatic experience without fear. And he\u2019s right \u2013 elected officials are treating people like the enemy, and it\u2019s disgusting.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nA second added,\u00a0\u201cHe\u2019s right, history is not on the administration\u2019s side. If a Holocaust survivor told you history is not on your side, you listen and do as he says.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s scary how this is so relevant now 8 years later.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nMarks emphasized that anti-immigrant\u00a0sentiment<\/a>\u00a0was a\u00a0\u201cdanger that is all too familiar to me\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0in an opinion post for The Sacramento Bee.<\/p>\nAs per\u00a0CNN<\/a>, he also said,\u00a0\u201cI feel horrible when I see or hear that a father or a grandfather is being picked up. And just because they get a traffic ticket, according to ICE they\u2019re criminal.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nMarks was transported to Auschwitz and Dachau to perform manual labor after the Nazis conquered his city of Lodz, Poland, when he was just seven years old.<\/p>\nOnly five of his family\u2019s 200 members survived the atrocities of the war when American troops liberated the camp on April 27, 1945, when he was 13 years old.<\/p>\nIn order to ensure that\u00a0\u201cwe do not forget the past,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Marks continued to teach students in the US and Europe about the events that took place in the decades preceding his passing.<\/p>\n\n\n](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Donald_Trump_%2853953046884%29.jpg\"){kind=link}