STOCKTON, Calif. — Sami Steigmann only remembers the stories he was told from when he was forced into a labor camp in the Ukraine at just 18 months old.
Now, he spends his time telling his story about being a Holocaust survivor by traveling the country, speaking at grade schools and universities.
On Thursday, he addressed students and the public at the University of the Pacific's Derosa University Center. His visit coincides with International Holocaust Remembrance Day this Sunday.
Steigmann was in the Nazi camp for two and a half years. He said he never knew until years later, he was the subject of Nazi experimentation during his time in the camp. It was revealed to him by his parents.
He said he has endured severe head, neck and other physical problems, but does not know exactly what the Nazis did to him.
"I've been in pain all my life and I will die in pain," Steigmann said. "But I came to a point right now where the pain is manageable, OK. And, it took me a long time to live without the pain killers."
He said after the medical experimentation ended, he was left starving to death. However, a woman living on land next door to the camp secretly fed him milk to survive.
"The woman brought food to the guards. And, when she saw the physical signs, big head, swollen stomach, swollen feet, that I'm dying of starvation, she decided to give me milk," Steigmann said.
His family survived the labor camp after the Russians liberated them in 1944. Over the years, he moved with his family to Israel, eventually settling in New York where he lives today. He says he has been a pharmaceutical sales representative and an accountant.
At one point in his life he became homeless, but turned his hopelessness into a positive by volunteering for different causes.
Part of his message to young people: "Never give up. Never lose hope and and enjoy the life you’ve been given."
"So what I want the young people to do is to become active and upstanders and be part of the solution and not bystanders and be part of the problem," Steigmann said.
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From 2013-2016, State Attorney General Xavier Becerra says his investigation into the Stockton Unified School District "found troubling practices," including law enforcement discriminating against black and Latino students and students with disabilities.