Ralph Rehbock is retired. Sort of. The Northwestern alumnus (McCormick ’57) teaches math at Oakton Community College, volunteers with “scouting” and serves as vice president for the executive board of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. He talked with The Daily about why retelling his experiences as a Holocaust survivor is so important, how he never actually put his engineering degree to use and why the more NU changes, the more it stays the same.
Excerpts:
Daily: What are some of the main goals of the board for the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center?Rehbock: It is important that our survivors who are willing and able to tell their personal stories continue to do so on behalf of the museum. There are two elements of that. One is that in the museum itself we speak to school groups on a daily basis, and the other is called outreach, and that is where some of us go to places like Northwestern and tell our stories.
Daily: Why is it so important to tell these stories to the next generation?Rehbock: The need to tell the story is really the reason why the museum was built. The reason it needs to be done is so there is no chance for the revisionists to try to convince the public that the Holocaust didn’t happen. Telling our stories is something real. When we are gone, those stories will remain.
Daily: What story do you tell?Rehbock: The Nazis kept doing individual acts and then sat back, as it were, waiting to see where the objections and where any concern expressed by people or newspapers or other governments would be. They didn’t get any negative reaction, so the Nazis felt empowered to go forward with their master plans. And that’s the story I tell-taking the history of that prewar period in Germany and integrating my personal story and that of my parents into that historical perspective of 1918 to 1938 when we were lucky enough to escape Germany.
Daily: Have you had any “life is strange” moments?Rehbock: I graduated in ’57 as an engineer, but I never worked as one. I worked in manufacturing for about 20 years and then the next 20-plus years as a manufacturer’s rep in the sales field in the gift industry. I never thought going to Northwestern as an engineer that I would wind up a salesman. I always thought of the salesman as the guy with the gift for gab and slap on a back. Now I’m spending my life volunteering with the math program and in scouting and the museum, and that’s how I keep busy. You didn’t hear a word about golf or tennis in there. I just like doing things for others, which are then really for me.
Daily: Describe your time at Northwestern.Rehbock: The engineering program was a five-year program because we spent six quarters in co-op working out in the field. After my sophomore year, I was only in school for the Winter and Summer Quarters because I was working in the Spring and Fall Quarters. My life was basically spent between Sargent Hall where I lived, slept, ate and Tech doing the appropriate homework requirements. I have to say my last year at Northwestern I was married and lived off campus and spent time with my wife and therefore was not particularly involved in stuff going on on the campus.
Daily: What were some notable changes you saw between your time as a student on campus and when you spoke here on Monday?Rehbock: I was in Annenberg Hall speaking and that wasn’t even there when I was here! So much has been added since the days my wife and I were there that it’s quite wonderful to experience now and see how dramatically different the campus is physically. But, the wonderful education students continue to get at Northwestern-that part has not changed.
