London, Oct 7 : When Nathan Gasch moved to the US to escape the horrors of the Holocaust, he thought he had done enough to bury the bad memories, but little did he realise that he will land as the neighbour of an SS guard at the camp where Gasch spent hard time as a prisoner.

Gasch was among the millions of Polish Jews who became targets of xenophobia and were held as prisoners in Nazi concentration camps.

Gasch moved to Arizona to escape the memories of his horrifying past only to realise that his neighbour, Martin Hartmann, was a part of the tyrannical Reich that devastated Europe during WW II.

"He was dressed in the black SS uniform, with the Nazi cap; I just froze. Then I dashed out of the house,” the Mirror quoted him as saying.

"I knew exactly what it meant because I've seen many of those uniforms and I know what those men did. But I wanted to close the door on those memories, so I said nothing. I avoided him after that,” he added.

Recounting his past, Gasch said that his whole family fell victims to the Nazis.

"Like so many other families, we were transported to Auschwitz," he said, adding that his entire family was wiped out at the concentration camp. His older brother Josef was executed, his father Chaskel succumbed to illness, and his sister Hana and mother Bella died in the gas chambers.

Gasch survived four years at the death camp doing menial jobs.

"I got little jobs, so I got an extra piece of bread. I am certainly lucky to be alive,” he added

Gasch came to the US to live with his aunt and her family and he soon met his future wife.

"My mother's sister Florence lived there, so I was thrilled to start a new life in the USA. I met my wife Beatrice at a wedding in Chicago. We were the only single people there,’” he said.

Hartmann and his wife Ellen have been Gasch’s neighbours for years now.

It was during one of his casual conversations with Hartmann that Gasch happened to have a glimpse of his bedroom, where the portrait was hung.

"We loved living here, and we soon met Martin and his wife Ellen next door. I walked into their bedroom, looked up and saw that picture. After that I never went in there again, but I didn't report them,” Gasch said.

Recently, Hartmann confessed to have served at the Nazi camp and as stripped off his US citizenship.

Later, Hartmann was deported to Berlin.

Gasch has insisted that Hartmann deserved the punishment he got.

"If he was what they think he was, he should get the punishment. Whatever his age, he was one of them. People like him, following orders, wiped out my family and many more besides,” he said. (ANI)