Sam Wohl was drafted into the Slovak Army in 1941.  The Jews were taken from the Slovak Army and were required to wear blue uniforms and navy caps.   All non-Jews wore green uniforms and carried guns.  

 

The Jewish soldiers were required to carry shovels to build highways.  They were stationed in Dvaryanka until March 1943.  When the Slovak Army was liquidated to Germany, Sam ran away with Gentile papers.  He worked for a wealthy German as a chauffeur/stable boy.  Sam had horses at home before the war and knew how to care for them.  The German did not know that he was Jewish at the time.  One evening Sam drove the German to a bar where he subsequently became very drunk.  Upon his leaving the bar, the German told Sam that he knew who he was and what he was, a Jew, but he promised to take good care of him.  

 

That night, Sam ran away and was apprehended by the Russians.  He went before a Russian judge and was sentenced to exile in Siberia.  Sam stated that he was a Jew.  The Russian judge warned him to get rid of the uniform and leave the country.  

 

Sam wound up in Paris, France to be with his cousins for six-seven months.  Sam had received a low number that allowed him to come to the United States earlier than others.  In 1946, he arrived in Detroit, Michigan to be with his sister, Bertha Friedman.

Never forget that you are a Jew and be proud of it.