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The Lifelong Learner
The remarkable life and times of a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who reminds us to not give up in finding goodness in people and to never stop learning.
Who was the lifelong learner? His name was Sandor Teszler, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who overcame immeasurable odds to come to the United States in search of peace, refuge, and an intellectually enlightened life.
Born in Budapest in 1903, upon receiving his degree in textile engineering, he founded his own series of textile mills in what is now the former Yugoslavia. One day in one of his plants, a worker was caught stealing hosiery, and Mr. Teszler faced the daunting task of choosing to incriminate the man or to let him off. He pleadingly asks him, “Why do you steal from me? If you need money, you need only ask.” He lets the man go, and reassures his angered guardsmen, telling them, “It’s okay, he will not steal again.”
Years later, after the Nazi occupation of Yugoslavia had been well underway, Sandor Teszler and his family were captured and placed in a death house, where Jews were beaten, killed, and ruthlessly thrown into the Danube River. One day, Sandor and his family were taken out to the edge of the Danube, where they suffered a merciless beating. In a seemingly sick twist of fate, one of the overseers of the death house was none other than the hosiery thief! Before their impending capture and…
