Because of Romek

What are you reading?

“Because of Romek, by David Faber. It’s a Holocaust memoir. David Faber is a Holocaust survivor, and he lives in San Diego. Essentially, it’s about how his brother Romek saved him. He goes through, I think, 14 concentration camps. It’s an insane story. Touching.”

Tell me about a memorable passage.

“All of it is very shocking, but there’s one scene — he was staying with his family in an empty apartment in the ghetto, and there was a bakery downstairs. Someone had left some flour there from when they were working there, and his family was using that to make bread. At one point, they were actually living pretty decently for the times — they had some food. And then the Germans came and caught them and saw all the food they had, and that was the point where they basically killed his whole family. He was hiding under the bed — his brother protected him by lying. I think he was 13 at the time. After that, he survived by sheer luck. He was moved from camp to camp, and he met people. At Auschwitz, he befriended a doctor who sometimes gave him food — he says that from time to time, he would actually gain a little weight. He just survived that way until the soldiers finally came and liberated them.”

What led you to pick it up?

“I’ve been wanting to read it for awhile. Back when I was in middle school, Faber came and gave us a speech. I always knew he had a book, and I was in Barnes & Noble and saw it.”

Compare this to other books you’ve read.

“I read one freshman year, another Holocaust memoir, by a very famous author…it was a pretty similar story, just about a different man. I just can’t remember the name.”

Compare the writing.

“Faber is much more simplistic and straightforward in his word choices — the other one was definitely more poetic. But the story is good, and he wants to get his story out there.”

Where do you go when you go into a Barnes & Noble?

“The first section is the guitar section. After that, I usually check out humor. Stephen Colbert’s I Am America (And So Can You!) was a good one. Humor and philosophy.”

Who is your favorite author?

“No one in particular. I try to pick up philosophy books, stuff like that, and read parts that I like. Nietzsche is one of the good ones. His philosophy is so out there — he really was a crazy guy — but he looks at commonplace things in an out-of-the-box way. He’s talking about the concept of time being infinite, and he says that if that’s true, then that will allow every single event that’s already happened to happen an infinite number of times, and that leads to the question of whether there is free will or predestination.”

What magazines or newspapers do you read? How many articles do you read to the end?

“Guitar Player and the Daily Aztec. I read about 60 percent of the articles to the end.”

Name: Konstantin D. | Age: 20 | Occupation: Student
Neighborhood: College Area | Where interviewed: SDSU trolley stop