Nathan Silow

"America is a good country especially if you have a good job. Be proud to be Jewish."

Name at birth

Nachman Szylowicz

Date of birth

03/10/1910

Where were you born?

Lodz, Poland

Name of father, occupation

Yaakov Shlomo, Plumber

Maiden name of mother, occupation

Rivka Leah, Homemaker

Immediate family (names, birth order)

Parents, two brothers, one sister and me

How many in entire extended family?

Who survived the Holocaust?

Two brothers: Yossel and Yisrael Aaron, my sister Mania. One brother was in hiding in France and one brother and my sister were in concentration camps.

I was in Warsaw in 1939. Soon after the Germans occupied Warsaw, I was walking down a street; two German soldiers were walking ahead of me. There was a Jewish man fixing a broken window. I overheard one of the German soldiers say to the other, watch me shoot that Jew. The other German said to the other, put away your gun, we don’t have our orders yet. When I heard this, I decided to escape to Russia. I asked my parents and family to leave with me, but they thought it would not get to be so bad. So, I left for Russia on my own. When I came to the border, the guard asked me if I was a Jew. I said I was. The guard said to me you can come in; we are not like the Germans; to us, all people are the same.

Where were you in the Former Soviet Union?

I escaped to Bialystok, then further into Russia. I worked in a coal mine in Siberia, later was with the army.

Where did you go after being liberated?

Brussels, Belgium. Two brothers and sister survived, were living there

When did you come to the United States?

December, 1952

Where did you settle?

San Antonio, Texas and then to St. Louis, Missouri

How is it that you came to Michigan?

After retirement, moved to Detroit to join son living there

Occupation after the war

Auto Worker, General Motors and Fisher Body-Chevrolet, St. Louis, Missouri