Holocaust survivor Bernard Marks recently gave a talk, to 8th grade students at Holmes Junior High School in Davis, California. He revealed that he was a prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau, although he has no tattoo on his arm.
Prisoners at Auschwitz had numbers tattooed on their arms
You can read an article, about the talk given by Bernard Marks, in the Davis Enterprise newspaper at http://www.davisenterprise.com/features/next-generation/holmes-students-spellbound-by-stories-of-holocaust-survivor/
This quote is from the article in the Davis Enterprise:
When it was [Bernard’s] turn to be tattooed [at Auschwitz], Marks said, he told the German officer he had to use the restroom. He even got into an argument about it, going so far as to tell the officer if he didn’t let Marks go, he would find himself in a large puddle. He was given permission to go, as was his father, who was ordered to make sure he returned. But they never did, managing to avoid the tattooing day after day.
It was, Marks said, “just one of the games we played.”
So famous Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel is not the only survivor of Auschwitz who got by without a tattoo. You can read about Elie and his lack of an Auschwitz tattoo at http://www.eliewieseltattoo.com/tag/auschwitz-a-7713/
Primo Levi wrote, on page 27 of his book Survival in Auschwitz, that every prisoner was required to have a tattoo in order to get their food in the chow line: “It seems that this is the real, true initiation: only by showing one’s number can one get bread and soup.” Levi was a prisoner in the Auschwitz III camp, aka Monowitz. Without a tattoo, how did Bernard Marks get any food in the Auschwitz camp?
Elie Wiesel was sent to Buchenwald after he was marched out of Auschwitz. Bernard Marks was sent to Dachau, where his mother and brother were killed, although Bernard and his father were spared.
I wonder why Bernard’s mother was sent to Dachau to be killed. Why hadn’t she been gassed at Auschwitz? Dachau was not a camp for women. There were no women there until the very end of the war. I previously blogged about the women who were sent from Auschwitz to Dachau at https://furtherglory.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/women-prisoners-liberated-at-dachau/
Elie Wiesel had no ID number at Buchenwald; I wonder if Bernard Marks got by without an ID number at Dachau.
This quote, regarding the tattooing of prisoners, is from a well-known True Believer website at http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/auschwitzbasics.html
The registration of newly arrived prisoners took place after the issuing of clothing and consisted of filling out a personal form, including details of next of kin. These forms were kept in the camps Political Department.
Thus registered, the prisoner received a camp serial number, which would serve instead of their name, for the duration of their stay in the camp.
(photo of Auschwitz Tattoo. Number of Henry Oertelt B11291)
The registration process [at Auschwitz] also included the tattooing of the prisoners camp number on their left forearm, and photographs were taken of the prisoners from three angles. […]
Every prisoner registered in Auschwitz Concentration Camp received a camp number, which he had to wear on his striped uniform in a precisely defined place.
Bernard Marks was 13 years old when he arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau. How did he manage to get past Dr. Josef Mengele, the most famous of the 30 SS men who made the selections for the gas chamber? Prisoners under the age of 15 or over the age of 45 were sent to the gas chamber immediately upon arrival at Auschwitz.
This quote from the Davis Enterprise explains why Bernard Marks was not sent to the gas chamber upon his arrival at Auschwitz:
In August 1944, Marks and his family were transported from Lodz to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Marks’ father had managed to hang on to his son’s work permit, which showed him being two years older than he really was, and it spared him on the selection ramp at Auschwitz — a ramp upon which the infamous Mengele, known as the “Angel of Death,” decided who would be killed and who would be spared to labor in the camp.
The rest of Marks’ family wasn’t so fortunate.
I will never forget that day,” he said.
He credited his father for saving his life time and again and getting him through the ordeal.
And he ended the presentation to Holmes students with a little levity. Asked by a student if he had a number tattooed on his arm like other Holocaust survivors, he told the story of how he and his father managed to avoid that particular indignity with a little ingenuity.
It should be a crime for Holocaust survivors to tell 8th graders stories about how they fooled Dr. Mengele and were able to get by without a tattoo at Auschwitz. The lack of an Auschwitz tattoo is an indication that Bernard Marks was not really at Auschwitz.
Another clue is that prisoners from the Lodz ghetto were sent directly to Dachau, near the end of the war.
This quote is from the H.E.A.R.T (True Believer) website:
They [the Jews in the Lodz ghetto] were tortured and subsequently shot or transported to Dachau and Mauthausen concentration camps.
Scrapbookpages Blog 
No way.. I do not believe him. I was skeptical and I wondered if he was tattooed.
My family came from Lodz and being as young as he said he was, he would not have survived. The earlier you were placed in the ghetto the chances of survival were not good. He would have been in the ghetto max 2 years.. This guy said he was there for almost 4 years and 1942 they started liquidating the ghetto to Chemlo and he made it to 1944 when he was finally deported ehhhhhh. Possible but.. Very iffy. I think he head someone else’s story and made it his own.
Comment by Sheryl — March 30, 2017 @ 2:37 pm
You wrote: “I think he head someone else’s story and made it his own.” I believe that you are correct.
Comment by furtherglory — March 30, 2017 @ 3:15 pm
furtherglory wrote: “So famous Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel is not the only survivor of Auschwitz who got by without a tattoo.”
Wiesel claims he’s got a tattoo (see below). But he refuses to show it. And when he allegedly showed it, that was conveniently never when there was a camera in the room. Moreover, his magic tattoo is invisible under sunlight and no camera is able to capture it (probably because the Holocaust is beyond the laws of physics).
October 8, 2012 :
[quote]He pulls back his left jacket sleeve to reveal a Nazi death camp number tattooed on his forearm as he sits comfortably in his Manhattan office for an interview.
“Usually I don’t show it,” he says.
One of the exceptions was a 2009 visit to the Buchenwald death camp Wiesel survived, with President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. [end quote] (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20121008/us-books-elie-wiesel/)
Comment by hermie — March 8, 2014 @ 6:16 pm
The laws of physics. Or magic, whatever, this liar defies belief.
Surely if he doesn’t have a tattoo then he wasn’t registered. So if he wasn’t registered, he should have been holocausted upon arrival.
But no, here he is.
The man’s a genius
Comment by DB — March 9, 2014 @ 12:17 am
DB wrote: “if he wasn’t registered, he should have been holocausted upon arrival. But no, here he is.”
Or Wiesel is an usurpator and he has never been imprisoned in a concentration camp. And by extension, if the most prominent ‘eyewitness’ to the “Holocaust” is a liar, what ‘witness’ to the “Holocaust” can be relied on? Obviously, none. Elie Wiesel alone destroys the alleged probative value of ALL the “Holocaust testimonies” ! Very few people understand that. And with no reliable “Holocaust testimonies”, the Holohoax promoters have nothing in their hands. Absolutely nothing.
Comment by hermie — March 10, 2014 @ 7:15 am
Not everyone received a tattoo. You have no right and no credibility to judge or say what happened or didn’t happen. How dare you!
Comment by Si Ellison — April 9, 2014 @ 3:27 am
The prisoners, who arrived at Auschwitz and were selected to be sent to another camp, were not tattooed, and the ones who were selected to be gassed immediately, were not tattooed. The prisoners who remained in the Auschwitz camp were all tattooed. Auschwitz was the only camp where tattoos were used for identification.
Comment by furtherglory — April 9, 2014 @ 7:01 am
Your statement regarding tattoos is partially correct. The prisoners, who arrived at Auschwitz and were selected to be sent to another camp, were not tattooed, and the ones who were selected to be gassed immediately, were not tattooed. My mother who arrived at Auschwitz with the Hungarian Jews did not have a tattoo either. Researchers at Auschwitz-Birkenau confirmed to me directly (in 2015) that section III was not tatooed, although they thought that there was some unrealized intent to ship those people to other camps. My mother was transported from the Viseu ghetto, whereas Weisel came from the Sighet ghetto and the families knew each other. She did undergo selection any number of times and knew Mengele. That part of the story rings true. Nonetheless at least part of the story is invented. Threatening to leave a German officer in a puddle would have resulted in instant death, and no one was excused from Zählappell (roll call for counting) to go to the rest room, and your Dad did not get to go with you unless it was to the gas chamber. No thirteen year old is likely to have survived 5 years in Auschwitz and the 5 years could not have started in august 1944 without extending the war to 1949. Our uncle (his book is available on Amazon under the title “Survivor’s Game”) was of similar age and survived, but not for 5 years.
Comment by Larry — March 31, 2017 @ 12:37 am
You wrote: “Researchers at Auschwitz-Birkenau confirmed to me directly (in 2015) that section III was not tatooed,”
I wrote about section III, aka Monowitz, on my website at
http://www.scrapbookpages.com/AuschwitzScrapbook/History/Articles/Monowitz.html
Unfortunately, I did not mention, on my website, whether or not the prisoners there were tattooed.
Comment by furtherglory — March 31, 2017 @ 11:16 am
You wrote: “Researchers at Auschwitz-Birkenau confirmed to me directly (in 2015) that section III was not tatooed,”
I am not positive, but I believe that prisoners at camp III, aka Monowitz, were all men, and no women were sent there. Everything about Monowitz was secret, and still is. Tourists are not allowed to go there.
Comment by furtherglory — March 31, 2017 @ 11:29 am