Comment by WhaleBiologist

My father was a holocaust survivor, and he was the exact same way. In fact, all of his surviving relatives were the same also. It seemed completely contradictory to me when I was younger (especially being raised as an atheist jew), but as I grew older I slowly understood. I think being persecuted like that made them hold onto their 'jewish identity' to an insane degree, despite the fact that all of them lost their religion.