I was the eldest of three children.  I completed the seventh grade in school when the war began.  When the Germans occupied Poland, my parent’s properties were confiscated.  There were frequent raids where people were taken away to forced labor or death.  The ghetto was formed and only those people engaged in forced labor were allowed to move in.  I worked as a tinsmith for a while in the ghetto.

 

In 1941, I was sent to a camp in Orthmuth, then to Markstadt.  There I worked hard labor, mostly in construction and steel work.  The camp was closed when we finished our work.  We were then sent to Bunzlau.  I was very ill at that time because prior to evacuation I had been given 150 whip lashes during their Tuesday and Friday beatings.  I was ill for weeks, and my back was infected.  I was sick all over.

 

After I arrived in Bunzlau, I found my brother David.  This helped me survive, because I was not alone.  At that point, I heard that our parents and sister had been killed.  I worked there until early 1945 when the camp was suddenly liquidated, the fighting was getting close.  There was a death march with no food or water.  People were being killed and died all along the way.  Our destination was Bergen-Belsen, where I stayed until my liberation.  Of the 900 people who began the march from Bunzlau, only 200 survived the march to Bergen-Belsen.

 

Bergen-Belsen was indescribable.  They killed a close friend of mine right in front of me.  Many others died of typhus, dysentery and starvation.  The dead were dumped into piles.  I also contracted typhus, dysentery and other problems.  At liberation I was sick and unconscious in the hospital.  This was told to me later, I do not recall being hospitalized.  I stayed in Bergen-Belsen which then became a DP (Displaced Persons) camp.  There I met, Paula Rajchman, another survivor.  Together we moved to another camp in Hanover, Germany where we were married.

 

In 1949, we immigrated to the United States, to Detroit.  My wife had family here.

No matter what nationality, religion or skin color a person is, we are all connected.  We are brothers and sisters.  We must speak up and protect each other. With love and understanding, we will make a better world.