Steen Metz (M / Denmark, 1935), Holocaust survivor
Steen Metz (M / Denmark, 1935), Holocaust survivor
- KEYWORDS : <Deportees> <Theresienstadt>
Biography
Steen Metz was born May 5, 1935 in Odense, Denmark. His family was arrested by the Gestapo during World War II and subsequently sent to the concentration camp Theresienstadt in present-day Czech Republic. His father died of starvation and hard labor. Steen Metz and his mother spent a year and a half in the concentration camp. They were repatriated by the Red Cross on April 15, 1945, shortly before the liberation of the camp.
USHMM
Steen Axel Metz, born on May 5, 1935 in Odense, Denmark, describes growing up in a family of assimilated Jews; his father (Steen Axel Metz) and mother (Magma Hildesheim); living in an apartment; having many friends, who were mostly not Jewish; the occupation of Denmark on April 9, 1940; starting school in 1941; seeing German soldiers walking the streets; getting around town by bicycle; the lack of antisemitism from other Danes; the Danish experience during the war; the escape of 7,000 Jews from Denmark before a major roundup in Copenhagen; the fates of members of his extended family; being arrested with his parents and taken to a schoolyard along with 60 other Jews; being deported by cattle car to Theresienstadt, where they remained for 18 months; staying with his mother while his father was placed in a separate barrack; not seeing his mother often because she had to work; volunteering as a messenger, which allowed him to get additional food rations; the curfews; his father’s death in 1943 from starvation and his subsequent cremation; being part of a group of children who were forced to dump cremation remains in the river; the beautification efforts made to make Theresienstadt look good for visiting Red Cross representatives; receiving packages from Denmark; the deportations to Auschwitz; the liberation of Thereisenstadt by the Russians on May 8, 1945; being taken by bus with his mother out of the camp; staying in Copenhagen for a few days before returning to Odense; his mother’s remarriage in 1951; graduating high school in 1953; moving to another town and joining the armed forces; working for an international company and living in Toronto, Canada, where he met his future wife; visiting the Ghetto Museum at Terezín in 2009; writing a memoir (it was published in April 2011); and speaking to various groups about his experiences during the Holocaust.
Personal Website
On October 2, 1943, my parents and I were arrested and deported to the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp from my childhood home in Odense, Denmark. I was only eight years old. This Nazi facility was the scene of constant hunger, brutal living conditions, and death. Some 15,000 children passed through Theresienstadt. I am one of fewer than 1,500 who survived.
My father died of starvation after less than six months in the camp.
My mother and I spent a total of eighteen months in Theresienstadt. We were liberated on April 15, 1945 by the Red Cross "White Buses" - just one month prior to the scheduled launch of the camp's newly installed gas chamber.
My mother and I returned to Odense, Denmark, where I completed high school and business college in Copenhagen.
I started my career in the food industry in Denmark, which later took me to England and then Canada. It was in Toronto that I met and married my wife. We moved to the U.S. in 1962, and raised our two daughters in Deerfield, Illinois a suburb of Chicago. I continued my work in the food industry, working for companies such as Sara Lee, Kraft and McCormick. I retired in 1999.
Like many Holocaust Survivors, I kept my war experiences private for many years. In 2011 I was ready to share my story when I completed my memoirs, including a self-published book "A Danish Boy in Theresienstadt."