Philip L. Gans' Obituary
Philip L. Gans (91) of Clearwater, died September 27. He was born in Amsterdam,
Holland where he lived until 1943.
From August 1943 until January 1945 he was a prisoner in Auschwitz Concentration
Camp. And from January 1945 until April 1945 an inmate at the Flossenburg
Concentration Camp in Bavaria, Germany.
He was liberated by the American Army in April 1945, and stayed with the occupational
forces till the end of 1945, during which time he served as a translator for the American
Army. He went then back to Holland . He was the only survivor of 21 members of the
family on his father’s side. Through a miracle he found out that his mother’s only sister
escaped France to Aruba. She sent for him and he stayed in Aruba from early 1946 until
early 1950 when he came to the United States. In the U.S. he lived in New York , New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and for the last 33 years in Clearwater, Florida. He
served 21 months in the service during the Korean War from early 1951 to late 1953.
In December 1961, he went to work for Tidewater Oil Company which later became
Chevron. He retired from Chevron in 1986, and moved to Clearwater, Florida.
Since 1999 he lectured thousands and thousands of students and grown-ups about the
Holocaust. Mostly at the Florida Holocaust Museum, but also at many schools, colleges,
Disney World, Sioux City, Iowa, Air Force Base in Utah, Indianapolis, and Evansville
Indiana, Medellin, Colombia S.A., Tallahassee, Florida, and many other places.
He is survived by his wife, Angelica, and daughters, Becky Roessler, Debbie O’Donnell
and Cristina Gans, 4 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren.
He lived to his own motto:
THERE IS BUT ON LAND OUR EARTH
THERE IS BUT ONE POPULATION HUMANITY
THERE IS BUT ONE RELIGION LOVE
Services to be held at Moss-Feaster Funeral Home, Dunedin, Main Street. October 4th,
2019. Gathering at 5:00 p.m. Celebration of his Life at 6:00 p.m.
Donations in lieu of flowers to the Suncoast Hospice and the Humane Society of Pinellas.
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