Albert Burke
"Never again. People should not let anyone like a Hitler get to have such power. They all followed. It shouldn’t happen again anyone, anymore. People should be aware power of tyrants to influence people."
Name at birth
Bela Berkovic
Date of birth
11/29/1921
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Chop, Czechoslovakia; attended school in Uzhgorod
Name of father, occupation
Bernard (Dov Aryeh),
Bank manager
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Laura Lustig,
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents and three brothers, Albert, Oscar and Eugene
Who survived the Holocaust?
Only me
I was taken into a Hungarian forced labor camp from 1940 till 1944. From there I was taken to Mauthausen concentration camp.
I went home after the war to see if there were any relatives still living. Unfortunately, I was the only one alive. I left for Israel in 1949 from Czechoslovakia which was a communist country then. Jews were being allowed to leave for Israel then. I left for Canada in 1953 settling in London, Ontario.
While I was in Prague after the war, I received a bachelor’s degree in science. In Israel, I received from Hebrew University and later a master’s degree in science at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario.
Name of Concentration / Labor Camp(s)
Where did you go after being liberated?
Back home to Chop, to Prague, then to Israel
When did you come to the United States?
1953
Where did you settle?
London, Ontario
Occupation after the war
Hebrew teacher at the United Hebrew Schools in Detroit and Henry Ford High School in Detroit as a science teacher
What do you think helped you to survive?
Will power. I had to go on, I wanted to live.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
Never again. People should not let anyone like a Hitler get to have such power. They all followed. It shouldn’t happen again anyone, anymore. People should be aware power of tyrants to influence people.
Interviewer:
Charles Silow
Interview date:
12/21/2010
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