Jerry Springer spoke about doing 'the waltz' and losing family in Holocaust in final interview before death
LOS ANGLES, CALIFORNIA: An emotional Jerry Springer spoke about losing his family in the Holocaust and also revealed that his daughter watching him perform 'the waltz' on 'Dancing With The Stars' was his "single happiest moment in television" in his final interview before he breathed his last at the age of 79. The television icon sat down for a moving interview back in March with Genevieve Hassan for the podcast 'Celebrity Catch Up: Life After That Thing I Did' just weeks following his birthday celebration as he told the host, "I was happy I reached 79."
Even after having an illustrious 27-year career on daytime television, Springer had a rather interesting reply for his favorite moment on the small screen. The former mayor of Cincinnati participated in season 3 of 'Dancing With The Stars' back in 2006 as he disclosed that the sole reason for him joining the show was to learn the waltz for the wedding day of daughter Katie Springer. He finally learned the waltz on week 4 of the program, with the help of pro partner Kym Johnson with his daughter in attendance.
RELATED ARTICLES
Inside Jerry Springer’s career-changing 1974 sex scandal amid iconic host’s death at 79
Jerry Springer: Net worth of the legendary talk show host who died at 79
'It was all worth it'
"When she came to Hollywood the night we did the waltz and then she came out of the audience, that was my single happiest moment in television. I mean that was just, it was magical," he said according to Daily Mail. "So that's my best memory, it was all worth it because of that."
Springer quickly became the fan favorite of the season and despite getting mediocre scores from the judges, he became fifth due to his loyal fans who voted for him every week. The hour-long interview soon became emotional as he shared the harrowing details and the tragic fate his family suffered during the extermination of Jews in the Holocaust.
Springer detailed the events during the Holocaust
Springer explained, "Sadly in our story, we wound up going to concentration camps initially, and the toughest one was my mom's mom was exterminated in Chelmno, and Chelmno was an extermination camp where you were only there for a night and a day." He said that his family was taken from their homes by the Nazis while they stayed in Berlin to a ghetto in Poland called Lodz (the proper Polish pronunciation is Woodge).
"And this was all information we knew nothing about, and among the many sad parts about this is mom and dad never knew any of this", the broadcaster said. "In other words, they knew their parents had been taken, but it isn't like you're taken to a camp, you send a postcard. Your parents are taken when you're just 30 something and you have no idea where they are or what happened to them. Nothing. And they lived the rest of their lives never knowing what happened, and here Evelyn and I, we get to find all the details."
'It's just unbelievable'
Springer spoke about the harsh living conditions in which his grandmother lived for six months in Lodz before being taken to Chelmno, where she was dumped in a ditch with several others after her death. "And when you see it, it's just, it's unbelievable. It's just unbelievable", Springer's voice began to tremble as he spoke about visiting the devastating place. "And remember all these people they were just killed not because anything that they did. it's just because of what they were. They happen to be Jewish. That's the only reason they were massacred and killed and wiped out. And that because the fundamental principle of your life."
Jerry Springer was born in February 1944, in Highgate tube station, London, which his parents were using as a bomb shelter. His parents, Richard and Margot, were German Jews who were able to flee the country to England during World War 2 when their relatives died in concentration camps.
Springer was only 5 when he and his family arrived in the US. They settled in the Queens borough of New York City, where Springer got his first Yankees baseball gear on his way to becoming a lifelong fan. Springer died aged 79 just months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.