Resolution
Be it resolved that the Nebraska Democratic Party, the citizens of the State of Nebraska and free and independent people throughout the world lost a good and true friend on May 23, 1996, when Irving Shapiro of Gering, Nebraska, passed away following a long illness after being successful in his fight against cancer.
Irving Shapiro was a person who offered through his life, inspiration and an example of how a person can survive the most difficult obstacles that can be conceived. Irving Shapiro was born in Poland in 1923. When he was a young man, Hitler's Blitzkrieg swept across Poland. Irving, his entire family, and 18,000 of the 20,000 inhabitants of his hometown in eastern Poland were herded into the infamous concentration camps which became part of the twentieth century history we now call the Holocaust. With the exception of Irving's brother, who was later to die at Buchenwald, Irving's entire immediate family was slaughtered at Treblinka. Irving was spared only to be pressed into laboring for his oppressors. Somehow, and obviously for a special reason, Irving was to survive these horrors and was finally liberated by the Allies.
Shortly after being settled in one of the many displaced persons camps established after the World War II, and still bearing the serial numer tattooed on his arm that he carried with him until the day he died, he came first to Canada and then to the United States. Irving brought with him a wife, baby daughter, his faith, and the lessons he learned as a young man. He established a home in western Nebraska where his family grew with the addition of a son and daughter.
Irving established himself in business, buying and selling hides, and when successful with that business, moved on to a new venture, railcar repair. His experiences in the camps allowed him to not only be a sccessful businessman, but allowed him to be compassionate in dealing with others.
For many years, like many other Holocaust survivors, Irving said nothing
about his experiences as a young man. He didn't discuss Auschwitz, Birkenau,
Majdanek, or any of the other camps to which he was shuffled by the Nazis. Late in his
life he came to understand that if he, a survivor, did not speak out about these
experiences it was possible that some people might forget, or worse, might attempt to
deny the human tragedy of the Holocaust. He began to speak out, first locally and then
regionally, about the Holocaust. He spoke to service clubs, schools groups and many
other organizations. He wrote a book about his travails. Gradually he became
recognized for his statements, speeches, and writings. Indeed not very long ago, the
Daughters of the America Revolution awarded him their National Americanization
Award, granted only to outstanding naturalized Americans. He was present at the
dedication of the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C.
When he became vocal about the past, he became politically active, contributing his energies and monies to Democratic causes and to Democratic candidates. He supported local, state, and national Democrats. Irving's home became one of the mandatory stops for successful Democratic candidates in Nebraska. Senators Exon and Kerrey and Governor Nelson were regular visitors in his home. At Irving's funeral it was said that Irving could deliver the entire Jewish vote of Gering, Nebraska, and he did so, many times.
Although Irving has now passed on and is no longer among us, his efforts, successes, and memories will survive him. A friend of his commenting on Irving's passing, remarked that with all that Irving had been through in his life, he deserved to live a thousand years. We shoud remember him for those thousand years.
Resolution to be offered to the Nebraska State Democratic Convention held in Omaha Nebraska June 21, 22 and 23, 1996.
