RUSH - RUSH ROCKER'S PARENTS MET IN AUSCHWITZ

RUSH ROCKER'S PARENTS MET IN AUSCHWITZ

RUSH rocker GEDDY LEE's parents met and fell in love as teenagers in the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp.
The singer/bassist is inspired by the story of how his mother and father survived The Holocaust and escaped from Poland to Canada, where Lee - real name Gary Weinrib - was born.

In a recent interview with Blender.com, the 55-year-old reveals, "When the Nazis came into the Polish town where my mother lived, they kept the Jews in a ghetto and then marched them to a labour camp. My father was from a different village, but was at the same work camp. They were 12 or 13, and then they were both sent to Auschwitz. My father would bribe the guards to give her shoes or food, little signs of affection. They fell in love in that horrible environment. Then she was transferred to Bergen-Belsen, and after the war she assumed he hadn’t survived. My dad made a point of finding her."

And he insists the Holocaust has always been a part of his life: "We grew up very aware of The Holocaust. My mother’s 83, and she freaks out if I leave a door unlocked. Holocaust survivors don’t ever really feel secure. They’re always waiting for those soldiers to come back. I was lucky that I had my dad for 12 years, and my mum’s still going strong at 83."