U.S. Army Lieutenant Frank W. Towers. Photo by AL KATZ Center.

On April 13, 1945, when U.S. Army Lieutenant Frank W. Towers liberated 2500 starving and dying Jews from a Bergen-Belsen death train bound for Dachau concentration camp, never could he envision that more than 70 years later he would be reunited with many of his Survivors in Bradenton, Florida, and receive a personal presentation from the White House for his noble acts of service to his country. During the reunion of Towers and many of his Survivors from across the United States and Canada, convened at The AL KATZ Center, Towers was surrounded by persons who owe their very lives to him.

Towers, now 99, was surprised with a visit from the White House Senior Director of Arms Control and Non Proliferation, who praised Towers for his leading role in saving thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust and presented him with a personal letter from the President and a Presidential photograph.

Amongst the Holocaust Survivors in attendance were various authors, a physics professor, and Dr. Thomas O. Hecht, a Canadian Jewish community leader and the founder and CEO of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies in Israel, which has advised all of the Israeli administrations for the past 21 years.

The reunion of Holocaust Survivors and liberators was held at the new headquarters of The AL KATZ Center in Bradenton, Florida.

Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the SD (Security Service) and Nazi governor of Bohemia and Moravia. Place uncertain, 1942. — National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md.

EDITORS NOTE: The next major event at the AL KATZ Center is a multi-media presentation by local Holocaust Survivor Kurt Marburg, who grew up nearby the site of the infamous Wannsee Conference, where top Nazi officials, including Chief of the SD Reinhard Heydrich, met to seal the fate of Jews in the Final Solution, which led to the loss of 50 million lives across the globe during World War II.

“Wannsee: Where Men Went Deadly Wrong” will be held on Monday, January 18 at 11:00 AM, open to the public, $12 per adult, $3 per student, with a grand opening reception to follow from 1:30 until 5:30 PM. For reservations, contact Dr. Beverly Newman at (941) 313-9239.

The new headquarters of The AL KATZ Center, located four miles from the Gulf of Mexico and which seats 100 people, offers greatly-expanded space to the Center for its weekly programs and daily community services.

In addition to its 75 events per year, The AL KATZ Center, a Florida non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization, provides advocacy services free-of-charge to elders in guardianship crises nationwide and assists Holocaust Survivors in meeting their daily and critical needs.