Terez Bender: " I am proud of my Jewish heritage. I survive as a Jew and believe that Jews should survive. We all originated from the Bible, and we should live together as good human beings. I do not know why I survived, but I have always believed in prayer and God". I was born in Romania to a family of five children. All five children survived the Holocaust. The rest of our family perished. My father was in the lumber business and was very religious. When the Nazis took him, he wanted to take his Tallis, but they would not allow it. When my brother returned to our home, he found that the Germans had hung the Tallis as curtains. This still makes me weep to this day. My brother then took the Tallis with him to Israel. My two sisters and I were taken first to Auschwitz, then on to two other work camps, and finally to Bergen- Belsen. My older sister saved me by encouraging me, telling me to keep going, that we would make it through to the end. At liberation our brothers, who were in other concentration camps, were finally reunited with us. I found employment with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and came to America. I became a successful real estate agent and supported my children after my divorce. When Dr. Siegel met Terez, it was Election Day, and she was very proud to be working at the polls as a Democrat. She was proudly wearing a Kerry-Edwards button.