The students of Natrona County High School received a lesson on one of history's darkest episodes Friday, as Holocaust survivor David Faber recounted the horrific experiences he endured during the Nazi's reign of terror in Europe.

"You don't know how lucky you are, what kind of freedom you have in this country," Faber told students gathered in the NCHS auditorium. "You should thank God every morning you were born in this country."

Faber, who is Jewish, was born in an area of Poland that before World War I was part of Germany, he said.

In 1939, when the Nazis invaded, the anti-Semitic people in Faber's hometown were far from distraught at the prospect of living under Hitler; in fact, they were overjoyed. "Our brothers are here," the residents of Faber's town proclaimed as the German war machine rolled into Poland, he said.

Because of such sympathy toward the German cause, Faber's family moved to another city where his uncle lived.

Then one afternoon, some Nazis barraged in on his uncle's family while they were eating lunch and murdered them all - an act that Faber witnessed. Members of Faber's immediate family were not present, but went into hiding after the killings.

After they came out of hiding, Faber's family and all other Polish Jews were required to register. Eventually, they were forced to live in a ghetto.

In the ghetto, the family was joined by Faber's older brother, a member of the Polish army who was captured by the Germans only to be released because the Nazis wanted the Jewish soldier dead and could not kill a prisoner of war under the Geneva agreement, Faber told the students.

His brother did not stay free for long, as both Faber brothers were captured as they tried to escape the ghetto.

Because the Nazis believed the elder Faber was a leader in a resistance organization, they ruthlessly tortured him before killing him, Faber said.

"I watched by brother suffer," Faber said as he recounted witnessing the Nazis plunge a red-hot fire poker into his brother's eye. Because they believed the younger Faber was too young to be part of the resistance, he was released.

Faber then rejoined the rest of his family. Eventually, though, the Nazis raided the building where they lived and five of Faber's sisters, his mother and his father were shot to death as the 14-year-old watched from a hiding place.

After staying hidden for three days with no food or water, Faber decided to turn himself in to the Nazi authorities.

Remembering his brother's advice, Faber flaunted the fact that he knew German, and partly as a result, they let him live. However, they decided to send him to a concentration camp to work.

Over the next few years, Faber endured eight different concentration camps including Auschwitz, where he served as a sonderkommando - a Jew forced to help run the Nazi's industrialized murder machines.

One of his jobs in the death camp was to go through the gas chambers and look for things like gold fillings in the teeth of the victims, he said.

On one occasion, Faber said he found a baby that somehow managed to survive the gas chamber. Faber took the baby and tried to take it to his living quarters.

However, Faber was caught with the child. A Nazi guard tore the baby from Faber's arms and threw the live infant into a crematorium oven, he said.

Stories like seeing a baby burned alive shocked and saddened many of the hundreds of NC students gathered to hear Faber speak.

"I thought it was sad, I cried," said Josie Strother, a sophomore.

"Usually, I am not too interested in the Holocaust because it is not brought to life at school, its more learning facts and stuff. But this really caught my attention," said junior Elly Clements. "Hearing him describe people in his family and stuff. That really made it more real to me I think."

Faber's speech made such an impression on Clements that she decided to buy a copy of Faber's book, "Because of Romek: A Holocaust Survivor's Memoir."

Faber warned the students that even though Hitler was defeated nearly 60 years ago, the type of hatred that lead to the Holocaust has not left us.

"The problem was, and it still is, that there is too much hate in the world," Faber said pointing to recent events such as the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and other terrorist attacks in Israel.

"Don't be brainwashed by hate," he urged.