midwesterner: My grandfather also went through the war, although he’s no longer alive now. He did go through Auschwitz, but it was towards the end of the war, and they were no longer tatooing the prisoners. But he did put on tefillin every day!In the camps, he was considered lucky, because he somehow got a heavy coat to keep him warm. Yet, when someone came to him and asked if he could trade something to my grandfather for his coat, he didn’t hesitate. He was offered food this man had somehow gotten and stashed away, cigarettes, and other items this man somehow had. But what did he want? The pair of tefillin the man had access to.
My grandfather was not one to give our major brachos. If we asked him for one, he would just say yisimcha (or yisimech for his granddaughters). Before the Yomim Noraim, he would just tell us, “Hashem should give you a good year, with health and happiness, and whatever is right for you!” But I know that his words went straight up to Hashem!