Judah Samet was born in February 1938 in Debrecen, Hungary. His family was Hasidic and his father was a Talmudic scholar. Samet's mother was extremely clever and an entrepreneur. She started two factories. Samet's maternal grandfather was a judge and an agent for a prince. Over the years, Samet's great grandfather accumulated a large estate. He rented land to peasants. He cared for those who worked his land and made sure they were comfortable. Hungarians were very anti-Semitic. They had arrived with Attila the Hun. Jews were rejected by every country in Europe including England. Samet was more familiar with his lineage on his mother's side. His maternal relatives farmed and had cows. Milk was sold to the local grocery store. Prior to the war, Jews lived a segregated life close to the synagogue. His parents were major donors to the synagogue in Debrecen prior to the war. The pattern of self-imposed segregation somewhat continues today in Pittsburgh [Annotator's Note: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]. Some of Samet's relatives relocated to Israel. Samet works in a high end jewelry store that his father asked him to operate for him.

Judah Samet was six years of age when the Nazis arrived in Hungary in late-March or early-April 1944. The invasion came after the leader of Hungary broke the bond with Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler]. The Jews were having their main meal at mid-day when the goose stepping Germans arrived. Announcements were made to round up the Jews with only minimal baggage. This was no game as the Jews had seen from Poland's experience. The 7,000 to 8,000 in the Jewish community gathered and were marched through the town center. Beatings occurred for those not moving quick enough. It was drizzling. Samet's sister commented that Heaven was crying for them. About 13,000 Jews from Debrecen and the adjacent areas were brought to a brick factory. Samet's mother volunteered to cook. She was a beautiful, brilliant, and fearless woman. Because she spoke with respect to the Nazis, she managed to get things done. Other people would be killed with similar requests. Hitler had directly ordered that any prisoner opening their mouth would be immediately shot but not Samet's mother. She could discipline her children without raising her hand or voice unlike her husband. She traveled a lot to sell the products of the family farm and factories. To disappoint his mother was a major blunder. She saved hundreds of Jews. The Jews were collected in the brick yard from early April to later June. Relocation was delayed because of transportation disputes between the Wehrmacht and the SS. They had conflicting priorities. The military ultimately received the priority. Samet's mother cooked meals through all those days.

Judah Samet and his family were in a gathering place for Jews [Annotator's Note: between April and June 1944 they were held by the Germans at a brick yard near his home in Debrecen, Hungary where there were about 13,000 Jews crowded together]. When the first train arrived, his aunt wanted to board it and take her children with her. She was tired of the treatment her six children were getting at the brick yard. She wanted to get away. Samet's mother warned her sister that the train was destined for Auschwitz [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oświe̜cim (Oswiecim), Poland]. Her sister did not care at that point. They were taken to Auschwitz and never seen again. Samet's mother had insisted that she wanted to be educated. That was unusual for Judaic women during those times. As a consequence, Samet's mother spoke fluent German. She knew how to deal with even the harshest anti-Semite. Using a low voice and steady rationalization, she could convince people to see things her way. While at the brick yard, Samet just did what a child would normally do. He played with his cousins who were his best friends. When a second train arrived, Samet's family was brought to the boarding platform. His mother observed water buckets and a waste bucket being put in each cattle car. There were no sanitary facilities nor privacy inside that car. The place would eventually turn into one big toilet. The smell was not as horrible as the cremated bodies in the camp. The furnaces ran all day and night every day. The German officer in charge on the boarding platform was dressed handsomely. Samet's mother requested more water and almost was shot for doing so. Instead, the officer allowed much more water in the car because of her request. The cattle car had no protection against the harsh weather outside. People were jammed into each car. The train departed but had to return because Czech partisans had destroyed the rail lines they were to use. The Hungarians did not want the Jews to return. In fact, they had killed 150,000 Jews before the deportations. The first attempted trip to Auschwitz was cancelled and the train was rerouted to Austria where the passengers were subdivided.

Judah Samet was sent to a large lumber yard [Annotator's Note: The first attempted deportation from Debrecen, Hungary was cancelled and the train was rerouted to Austria where the passengers were subdivided and sent to various other staging areas for the next transport]. The owner of the yard was a major Nazi and taunted the prisoners. Food was similar to a concentration camp. Samet's mother risked sneaking out of the camp to make clothes for local citizens in return for food. When she did not return for several days, Samet and his two brothers and sister were panicking. His father was there during this time and although he was a recognized genius, he did not attentively care for the family like Samet's mother did. She was the bedrock of the family. She returned to the family after a few days. She had been incarcerated in the village. She ultimately managed to escape from her imprisonment. Her cellmate was hung for not cooperating with the Germans. Samet's mother knew she had to get back to her family and managed to do so. Samet had been rescued after falling into a well during those weeks. He and his family were at the lumber yard a couple months and then were herded onto a second train. The destination was Bergen-Belsen [Annotator's Note: Bergen-Belsen concentration camp near Bergen, Germany]. Samet came from an intellectual family in Hungary who talked about world events. The children knew what was going on with the Jews in the outside world. Samet was confident that he would be alright if he stayed close to his mother. Conditions on the second train were similar to those in the first one [Annotator's Note: prisoners jammed together with little water, no food, no sanitary conditions or protection from harsh weather conditions].

Judah Samet saw stacks of dead corpses about two stories high when he arrived in Bergen-Belsen [Annotator's Note: Bergen-Belsen concentration camp near Bergen, Germany]. A rotation was performed every day to send the dead to the crematoria and begin anew stacking up those who just perished. The Germans would take count every morning at three o'clock to see how many had died during the night. The Jewish Committee, the Judenrat, had the job of removing the dead from the barracks. They were selected because of their cruelty. They were the bosses of the other Jews and forced them to do their bidding. If they were not cruel enough, the Germans would kill them. Samet and his siblings learned to follow the Germans coming out of their mess hall so they could retrieve any portions of food that might be discarded. It was not much, but it was a taste of food. The children searched for food all day. When they once spoke to a guard, he tried to shoot them. Samet never complained. He has carried that trait forward through his life. Anyone who complains should spend a day at Bergen-Belsen. Once when he had a bad headache in the camp, his mother checked his head. She took him to a Hungarian physician in the camp who said Samet was lucky he was alive. He had a puss filled location on his head caused by lice. His mother had previously taught her children to eat lice because they are blood suckers and that blood is protein. Samet is conflicted with that idea but it probably saved his life even though it almost cost him his life in Bergen-Belsen. The physician had to operate on Samet and remove a portion of his skull about the size of a 20 dollar gold piece and then enough of the brain to remove the problem. All this was performed without proper instruments or anesthesia. Samet's life was saved but he carries the indications of the surgery to this day. Samet's mother watched him over the course of a few days until he sufficiently healed. He does not remember the pain because of the situation he was in at the time. He has not been bothered through the years with any aftereffects. Luckily, none of his brain disappeared. [Annotator's Note: Samet chuckles.] There was little work done in Bergen-Belsen. The war was nearing an end and the German officers were being more careful with the prisoners. That was the reason for the selection of the Judenrat as their instrument of discipline and action. Samet does not recall ever seeing a German kill anyone. His brothers, sister and father stayed inside. His mother stayed in contact with the outside including the Judenrat. She was disturbed with the latter because they would remove the vegetables from the soup and sell it. She thought that what little nutrition was in the soup should be directed to the sick people. People were dying every day at the hands of the Judenrat. They left Samet's mother alone because she was an interpreter and of value to the Germans. People were giving up on life as the days passed. Samet never saw anyone commit suicide on the electric fence. After ten months or so, a train came and Samet's mother put her family on the train. She was worried if they stayed in the camp, they would all perish. No food or water was being provided to the prisoners any longer. If they took a chance on the train, they might survive like they did before [Annotator's Note: their train to Auschwitz from Hungary had been rerouted to Austria where they lived for several months until they were sent to Bergen-Belsen].

Judah Samet left by train and remembers passing through Berlin [Annotator's Note: Berlin, Germany] where ruins were everywhere. [Annotator's Note: Samet had left the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp prior to its liberation in April 1945.] It passed through a forest where the prisoners heard a tank. The Jews felt that they were finished. The tank was actually American and the soldier who greeted them was a Jew from Brooklyn. The freed prisoners were jubilant. They had to be fed carefully because their stomachs were not prepared for regular food. The liberated individuals were placed back on the train and taken to Hillersleben on the Rhine River. The train had previously been guarded by Hitler Jugend [Annotator's Note: Hitler Youth] who had fled prior to liberation. Samet's family settled into a German home. Many of the Germans gave food to the Jews because they felt guilt. Samet's father went with his brother to search for food. His father contracted typhoid and died only a few days after liberation. Samet's older brother was told by his mother that he was then the head of the family. Samet treated his brother as he would his father from then on even when he was filled with rage in the orphanage. He depended on his older brother to calm him down. For a time, Samet was separated from his mother and family. He went to Paris [Annotator's Note: Paris, France] and then to Orly [Annotator's Note: Orly, France] where he reconnected with his mother and family. His father barely survived an attack by a street gang in Hungary. One of the members even worked for the elder Samet. Samet's father immediately obtained passports for the family to go to Holland. Unfortunately, someone took the luggage that contained the passports so the family lost everything. After the war, Samet's mother was offered a managerial job over a factory in Hungary. She refused to return to Hungary because she was not pleased with the communist authority. Consequently, they boarded a ship that was bound for Israel. His mother eventually rejected the idea of going to America because she no longer trusted Gentiles. Samet's wife said all the poor Jews went to America and the rich ones stayed behind with their property in Europe and died.

Judah Samet had a difficult time connecting with Israel as an Orthodox Jew. He was eight years old at the time he entered Israel [Annotator's Note: in 1946]. His mother fought for the children to have an education. They were sent to an orphanage and seminary in B’nai Brak [Annotator's Note: Bnei Brak or Bene Beraq, Israel] for that purpose. He was filled with rage during his orphanage years. He was a tough child because of his past experiences. The head of the orphanage was going to remove him for robbery. She taught him a life lesson about working for what you want out of life instead of stealing. It made a large impact on Samet that he remembered throughout his remaining school days and later life. She gave him a gift he would never forget. After his mother, that lady is his role model. His eyes tear up when he tells that story of inspiration. He believes in truth and honesty and hates dishonest people. He is also opposed to people who brag. He would become president of his seminary senior class. He introduced spring break to the seminary. He was never treated differently because he was a Holocaust survivor. [Annotator's Note: Samet reflects on Alexander the Great's attitude toward the Jews he conquered.] Samet's mother argued in favor of German reparations. A little money came to the Samet family but not much.

Judah Samet was a willing fighter in the Israeli Defense Force. Jews have been warriors since the time of Abraham. The Defense Forces preempt known attacks and defend against intruding neighbors, the Arabs. He loved the six month boot camp with tough and long hours. The master sergeant was rough but took care of his men. The Navy Seals took inspiration from the Force. Samet was a radioman. He carried a 43 pound radio on his back. It was limited to a 30 kilometer radius. He and his brother were in the same unit which was a paratrooper outfit. They were sent to help establish a kibbutz [Annotator's Note: a collective farming community in Israel] in a dangerous place on the border. They guarded at night for six months. They were posted in the Negev Desert. The troops were modern orthodox. They were getting ready for Rosh Hashanah, the start of the High Holy Days, when the commander told him and his comrades to travel by truck to another kibbutz. They served as a replacement unit for Ben-Gurion's [Annotator's Note: David Ben-Gurion; born David Grün, the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first Prime Minister of Israel; Ben-Gurion later invited Samet’s mother to join his political party] body guard. Ben-Gurion loved Samet and his comrades. His brother was not as impressed with Ben-Gurion and his depth of knowledge of the Bible. The retired leader's wife was a kleptomaniac and a racist. When the detachment returned to its kibbutz, the commander inspected their weapons. The men had no time to clean their weapons after arrival but that did not deter their leader. He planned to press charges against them but Samet's mother called Ben-Guion who corrected the situation. The leader ultimately gave his life for his country in the Yom Kipper War. Samet was a comedian in the service, as were his brothers. He gave a one-man show at a party after training was completed. He was considered for membership in an elite brigade that consisted of many entertainers. That was short-lived.

Judah Samet was a member and canter at the Tree of Life Synagogue. In October [Annotator's Note: on 27 October 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania], he went to the synagogue a little later than usual. People had already begun to drift into the building as he was arriving. Someone stopped him and told him a shooting was going on near the building. As Samet spotted a detective firing a handgun, he heard a rapid staccato of return fire. His military instinct took over. He wanted to determine where the fire was coming from. Samet looked through some open car doors and spotted the shooter. The man saw Samet looking at him but was so focused on the detective that he paid little attention to him. Samet made it back to his vehicle and got away. Had he arrived on time; he likely would have been a casualty. It seemed to Samet that attacks on him would never end. Because of his proximity to the shooter, he provided a good description of Bowers [Annotator's Note: Robert Bowers was arrested at the scene]. Samet was slightly traumatized. His family was frightened that he had died. The event in Pittsburgh united many people. The Steelers and Penguins adopted the synagogue and the casualties and survivors of the incident. Samet has been interviewed on national television news and even been invited to the White House.

Judah Samet does not hate the Germans but at the same time he cannot forgive them for the six million dead Jews. Anti-Semitism is returning to Germany. Muslims hate Jews also. Samet speaks to schoolchildren and tells them not to feel guilty for what their great grandparents did. Some German children were so disgusted with what was done during the Holocaust that they converted to Judaism. Samet's brother has lectured at the University of Berlin [Annotator's Note: in Berlin, Germany] about Jewish law. For Samet, his World War 2 experience was all Bergen-Belsen. He went to Europe with his relatives so they could see what he experienced during those years. Hungary only included 500 Jews when he was there. Those were not originally there before the war. His grandchildren found family names on a memorial in Hungary. To Samet, it made the story go full circle. He only wishes that he knew where his father was buried.