Concentration camp survivor, Sidney resident dies

Benny Hochman was a prominent member of the Sidney community for many years. He made sauerkraut in the garage for the yearly Oktoberfest “because his wife said it stayed in the house for months,” according to Dr. C.J. Cornelius, M.D., a long-time friend of Hochman’s.

Hochman was also active in the Kiwanis Club, a member of the city council at one time and the Jaycees and he was also president of the band parent’s organization at Sidney High School. Hochman was also on the board of directors of the American Legion baseball team and for the Endowment Association of WNCC amongst other things.

But Hochman’s story of survival at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps is his legacy. Hochman recounted his struggle dozens of times through the years at colleges, high schools, meetings and at clubs across the western United States.

When the Nazis invaded Losz, Poland, Hochman and his family were taken captive. Hochman was taken to the rail yards and put into a cramped boxcar on a train bound for Auschwitz with dozens of other people. The boxcar had been used to transport cattle and people were crammed in with standing room only and there were only two small windows for ventilation. The ride took three to three and a half days and some people died on the way. The captives weren’t allowed food or water for the entire trip.

Upon arriving at Auschwitz, the captives were stripped and were given lightweight prison suits and wooden sandels to wear year-round. They were then put in unheated barracks infested with rats. The rats often bit the captives, some of who died from infections resulting from the bites. The captives had to huddle together to stay warm.

Hochman’s brother fell ill early on and was shot to death by the Nazis when he became too weak to stand at Hochman’s feet. Hochman knew that when he saw his mother’s, father’s and sister’s luggage that they had been exterminated also.

When the Russian army showed up in the midst of winter, the Nazis forced the scantily clad captives to walk the “death walk” away from Auschwitz that lasted for more than one month. Many died along the way from exposure; others were killed by the soldiers if they fell down. Only about 20 percent survived the walk.

Hochman survived the trek and ended up at Buchenwald. While at this camp, Hochman was one of the captives chosen to work on streets and railroads and in forests, which kept him from dying in the gas chambers. The Nazi’s had signs over the main gates of the caps that had the inscription “Arbeit Macht Frei” which translates to “Work makes you free.”

The Buchenwald commander’s wife, Ilsa Koch, would ride into the camp weekly and when she spotted new prisoners who were bore tattooed numbers on their arms that they were forced to get by the Nazis, she would have soldiers cut the tattooed skin off so that she could use it to make lampshades.

During the last days of Buchenwald, the captives were no longer taken out to work. They were basically left to starve. The captives became weaker by the day.

In Hochman’s book, “From Hell to Here,” co-authored by Dr. Cornelius, Hochman recalled hearing gunfire getting closer and how he hoped it was anyone, “Americans, Russians, even the devil himself if he brought food.”

Hochman said that his strength was gone and the end was at hand as he lay in the gutter near the perimeter fence of the compound.

Hochman couldn’t recall his rescue, but he was later told how it happened.

When the American soldiers liberated Buchenwald, First Sargeant Charles Kinney of Evansville, Ind. carried Hochman to his jeep because he was too weak to walk. Kinney then drove Hochman to the camp of Company A of Signal Battalion 926 and after a short while Hochman was taken to the U.S. Army field hospital where he remained for a few weeks.

When Hochman was well enough to leave the hospital, he returned to the 926th. Supply sergeant Gus Farkas from Buffalo, New York outfitted Hochman with an American uniform and told him, “Let’s make you a corporal.” Hochman became a T-5 in the army signal battalion 926.

Hochman easily learned English while putting his skills with the German language to use in aiding the American army by helping instruct German work crews and by searching out SS members.

When Hochman was able to get documents finished, he headed to the United States on the ‘Marie Marlin’ ship. A fellow GI, Ed Townley from Lebanon, Neb. who Hochman roomed with during his time with the 926th, waited for Hochman’s arrival in Nebraska.

Upon arrival in the U.S., Hochman stayed in New York for five days but he decided that he didn’t like it and he headed on to Lebanon, Nebraska. Hochman was greeted in Lebanon by most of the town’s residents and a few hundred other people while the high school band played.

Hochman found a job in a McCook bakery, since his family owned a bakery in Poland. After the bakery, Hochman worked briefly for the Burlington railroad and then went on to work as a telephone lineman.

The telephone job eventually brought Hochman, along with his wife and three children, to Sidney.

Hochman returned to tour Germany twice and Poland once over the course of his life. While in Poland in 1998, Hochman was able to return to his hometown and see the bakery his parents once owned and he also saw the railway station where he was taken in 1939 for the departure to Auschwitz.

During these European trips, Hochman also visited Auschwitz and Buchenwald where he noted that the “Arbeit Macht Frei” was still etched over the entrances.

Hochman passed away peacefully on Wednesday, May 29 at Sidney Regional Medical Center.