La Jollans were inspired by the harrowing story of the experiences of a Mexican-American veteran during the Holocaust and his unique written contribution to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. — though a public presentation on July 15 at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla unfortunately didn’t include the 87-year-old veteran himself, who is recovering from a hip replacement. But the presentation, titled “A conversation with Anthony Acevedo,” did feature Kyra Schuster, curator of the Holocaust museum and Acevedo’s son, Tony, who spoke of his father’s experiences at Berga, a subcamp of the notorious Buchenwald concentration camp, where his father was held after being captured by the Germans. After keeping a secret diary documenting his experiences, Acevedo signed a document after the conclusion of the war barring him from making his memoirs public. In 2010, however, Acevedo donated his diary to the Holocaust Museum noting, “I speak for all my buddies who were there.” The first Mexican-American to register with the museum’s Holocaust Survivor Registry, Acevedo’s diary is the first written account by an American captive and one of 150 diaries donated to the museum. Though Americans tend to be thought of as liberators of the war, Schuster said, “We rarely think of them as victims of the Holocaust.” Schuster recounted the story of Acevedo, who was born in the U.S. but deported with his family to Mexico when he was a child because they were not in the country legally. After the start of World War II, Acevedo returned to the U.S. to enlist and was assigned as a medic to the Army’s 70th Infantry Division. He was captured at The Battle of the Bulge — Germany’s unsuccessful last-ditch attempt to turn the tide against the Allied offensive after D-Day. Acevedo, Schuster said, kept his diary through the end of the war, when he and colleagues were taken on a “death march” away from Berga in an effort by the Germans to stay ahead of the Allies, until their liberation by American forces. After the war, some of the survivors, including Acevedo, “signed a document that they would never publicly speak about what happened to them under threat of disciplinary action.” Acevedo, Schuster said, ultimately decided to open up about his experiences because, he said, “These young people disappeared for no reason at all and they deserve at least some piece of my life.” The donation of Acevedo’s diary and his American Red Cross armband, she said, “more than doubled our Berga collection.” At the July 15 presentation, Michael J. Sarid, western regional director of the Holocaust Museum, said the museum has inspired nearly 40 million visitors since it opened 20 years ago. “As the museum approaches its 20th anniversary and Holocaust survivors and eyewitnesses are dwindling in number, the museum is in a race against time to gather as much evidence of the Holocaust to teach its lessons for generations to come,” he said. “The truth of the Holocaust is a truth that the world must never forget.” Asked by an audience member what Acevedo took away from his experiences, son Tony said, “He would always tell us to treat people with kindness.” For more information visit www.ushmm.org.