ABILENE, Texas -- One of the few remaining Holocaust survivors was in Abilene on Friday for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum hosted the event, where Max Glauben was the guest speaker.

In the 84 years that Glauben has lived, he has survived five concentration camps and experienced enough tragedy to fill several lifetimes.

It all started in 1942, when the Nazis’ turned much of Warsaw, Poland into a ghetto. Glauben and his family had lived in Warsaw.

“Eight hundred years of civilization and culture lies right there and this is the part that we have lost because it never comes back,” Glauben said.

In his early teens, he lived through six years of terror. From the Warsaw ghetto his younger brother and mother were both taken away to died in a gas chamber.

“They perished in the gas chambers of Majdanek. 1943 was the last time I saw them," Glauben explained.

Soon after, Glauben and his father were loaded up and after five terrible days found themselves in a concentration camp.

“My father was taken as a hostage because they said that somebody escaped. They took 10 people and before counting, they killed some. My father was one of the victims. It was probably the darkest moment of my life,” Glauben said.

When he speaks to crowds today, many ask how he was able to find the will to stay alive while witnessing so many tragic events. He said it all has to do with his last name, “Glauben,” which means believer.

“I strongly believe in the above power because none of us could do some of the things that are being done without his help,” Glauben explained.

Glauben moved to the United States in 1947. He then served in the U.S. Army for two years. He has a wife, three kids and seven grandchildren. He currently lives in Dallas.