A Holocaust survivor ... a television (behind-the-scenes) legend

      The man's name is Peter Lassally, and he was a television star -- not in front of the camera, but behind the scenes.

     He is known in the TV world as the "host whisperer."

     Some of us who consider The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson the greatest of all television programs know who Peter Lassally is.

     What I did not know until earlier this month is that he (1) is a Holocaust survivor; (2) lived in Amsterdam; and (3) has an Anne Frank connection.

      And that draws my attention. I have known Holocaust survivors from Amsterdam quite well.

      Learned all this from a 9 1/2 minute segment on Lassally during CBS' Sunday Morning program March 11. 

      Lassally was executive producer of Carson's Tonight Show for the bulk of Johnny's 29 years of legendary television.

      After Carson's death early in 2005, I remember Lassally appearing on several programs to talk about Carson's life, career and personality. But Lassally's personal background was not part of those discussions. 

      He was as close to Johnny -- very much a loner despite his show-business persona -- as anyone could be, including Ed McMahon. But Carson was only one of the stars Lassally promoted.

      He produced Arthur Godfrey's television show in the 1960s when Godfrey was, arguably, the medium's biggest star (as he had been on radio previously). After Carson retired, Lassally was executive producer for the late-night shows of David Letterman, Tom Snyder and Craig Ferguson,  and also an advisor for Jon Stewart.

      Thus, the "host whisperer" title. Well-deserved.

      On Sunday Morning, Mo Rocca -- entertaining, informative and usually a bit zany -- was Lassally's  interviewer. No zaniness this time.

      Here, taken from CBS' Sunday Morning web site, is the 2 1/2-minute transcript from the interview pertaining to the Holocaust:

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      If Peter Lassally sounds blunt -- even dour at times -- it may have something to do with his life before television. 

      He was born in Germany in 1933. Jewish, the family fled to Holland. For a time, he was in grade school with Anne Frank.

       Lassally: "Well, she wasn't in my class, she was in my sister's class, who told me afterward that she was not a popular girl. I mean, all her experiences were not unusual or strange to me; you hid from the Nazis the best way you could. And we tried and failed."

      When he was 10 his father died. Soon after, he and his sister and mother were sent to the first of two concentration camps [note: Westerbork and Theresienstadt].

      Rocca asked, "Was there ever, in your 25 months in the camps, even just a moment where you sort of forgot where you were?"

      "No. No. Never forgot where you were," Lassally replied. "I remember watching from my window a little baby being swung against the lamppost and, you know, that's what my life was like: Watching them kill an innocent baby in the most brutal way possible."

      Lassally recalls another cruel tactic of his captors, this one psychological: "The middle of the night, word comes to the barracks, 'Everybody outside, form a formation.' You didn't know whether it was a transport going out to another concentration camp, or you'd stand there for hours in the rain, in darkness. And they did it just to scare you and make you nervous. They always had you off-balance."

     Rocca: "So that you were always scared?"

     Lassally: "Always scared. Always scared. Which is what our President is doing."

     He elaborates on his refusal to watch any news programs these days. The video runs another couple of minutes and ends with Lassally reflecting on his life.

     Looking at a photo of Lassally in his TV executive producer days, Mo Rocca says, "What I see is a little bit of wariness. A guy who has seen a lot."

     "I saw a lot, you are right about that," Lassally answered. "I saw plenty. Everywhere!"

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       The remaining Holocaust survivors are dwindling, but for us, the story is never diminished. Lassally was among the fortunate; his life -- like that of so many others -- is a tribute to what's possible.

      We never forget those we lost in the Holocaust; personally, the family we never knew.

      Nor do we forget the survivors we knew, the ones we lived with, the ones who were their friends.

      We never forget. Peter Lassally never forgot. 

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      Link to the full interview:
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/tv-exec-peter-lassally-on-working-with-the-kings-of-late-night/

      Photos taken from the interview on CBS' Sunday Morning web site