STORY BEHIND 'EXODUS' SURVIVOR SET TO TELL THE TALE.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

CANYON COUNTRY - Menachem Libes is a happy spirit, and that would come as a surprise to those who know his life story.

After having raised two adult children who have two children of their own, Libes, 76, and his wife, Tehia, 73, still work five hours a day and spend the rest of their time going out, dancing, eating, reading and traveling.

``Always busy. Always working. It keeps you from being sick,'' Libes said.

The two, married for 50 years, travel with an almost voracious zeal to wherever they can - Brazil, South Africa, the Caribbean, Philadelphia, Miami, San Francisco - driving, taking a cruise, whatever.

``Name it,'' Libes challenged. ``We've been there.''

More than an interest in seeing different countries, Libes' appetite for traveling comes from a passion for people.

``I travel to see people, to talk to people, to enjoy people, to know people,'' he said.

And Libes always has a joke on his lips and a smile on his face. Always.

But Libes' smile, though genuine, could be considered a defiant one - laughing in the face of four years in a concentration camp where he went to sleep with somebody and woke up next to an emaciated corpse. Or where people were killed, like his mother, sister, brother and grandmother.

``People are like animals. How can they kill people? A 5-year old like my brother?'' he said.

Despite the unimaginable losses he suffered, Libes chose not to dwell on the tragedy.

``When everyone was crying, I was laughing,'' said Libes, a Holocaust survivor. ``I said don't worry, it will be better tomorrow. There is always hope for better days.''

Once he arrived in the pre-state of Israel, he decided he would not live in the past.

When he met the woman who would become his wife, he didn't tell her his story until later, and he never told his story to his children, though now they know.

But he is going to tell his story at a screening of the 1961 Paul Newman movie ``Exodus'' on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m at the Edwards Valencia Grand Palace Cinemas because the rabbi at Temple Beth Ami asked.

``He wished a lot of young kids will watch the movie,'' Libes said. ``He asked me and I'll do it.''

The movie, based on Leon Uris' novel, is the saga of the founding of Israel following World War II. The story is about Israeli resistance fighters and their effort to bring a group of 600 European-Jews from British-blockaded Cyprus into newly partitioned Palestine.

When Libes reads the three pages - meticulously hand-written for him by his wife - about his experiences as a helmsman for a refugee ship, it is not out of a desire to share his story with others.

``What'll help when I tell others? They will feel sorry, they will cry, they will feel bad,'' he said. ``People know,'' he said confidently. ``People know what can be.''

What he shares will be just a ``slice,'' as Libes calls it, of what he went through.

The Palmach was one of the original refugee ships that made its way with 650 people from Italy to the pre-state of Israel in 1947 before they were discovered by the British navy.

Everyone on board - except those who died trying to swim to shore - was taken to a British prison camp in Cyprus for six months before they were finally transferred to what was then Palestine.

``I don't want to remember,'' he said. ``I like to enjoy life.''

His passion for all people is a product of coming face to face with man's inhumanity.

``When the Germans came to Lithuania, there were architects, engineers, doctors, and when they took us to camp and put on the striped dress, the pajamas, everybody was equal. You had a number - that was it. The hungry want a piece of bread,'' Libes described.

``From this moment I see one thing - everybody is equal. We all want the same thing - food, love, money, entertainment.''

That passion for people was the most important lesson he wanted to pass onto his children.

``Love each other,'' he told them. ``Take care of each other.''

When Libes sits on his chair observing his neat apartment with art pieces by Israeli artists covering the walls, framed pictures throughout the living room, and his wife, he says that though they are not wealthy, they have everything they need.

``Money is nice, yes. But money is nothing. I saw in the camps people, very rich. Before, money was no object,'' he said. ``All of a sudden, in one day, no money, no respect, nothing.''

His final words on his four years at a concentration camp: ``Never again.''

Always concentrating on a bright future full of love, health and happiness, Libes says he will never stop laughing.

``When I die, I'll smile too.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color in SAC edition only) Holocust survivor Menachem Libes will speak at a showing of ``Exodus'' in Valencia on Wednesday night.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

(2) This is a photograph from Menachem Libes' youth.