Sima Yarsike Weberman

"To be kind, to be nice to your people, to your family, and to support Israel. Never to forget the Holocaust."

Name at birth

Sima Zauberman

Date of birth

10/11/1938

Where were you born?

Tomaszow Lubelski, Poland

Name of father, occupation

Eliezer Zauberman, Businessman, had buses that he rented out

Maiden name of mother, occupation

Ida Shtul Zauberman, Homemaker

Immediate family (names, birth order)

Parents and Sima

How many in entire extended family?

Who survived the Holocaust?

My parents and me, my mother's sister and brother'

I was a baby. My parents were able to escape from the Cracow Ghetto to the forests. The Partisans helped us once we escaped. Russians later took us by force to Siberia. My parents worked in the forests, cutting timber.

When the war ended, because we were Polish citizens, we were sent back to Poland on a cattle car. We wound up Szczecin, Poland near the German border. From there we went to a DP camp in Templehof near Berlin. We stayed in Berlin for a few years and then went to another DP camp in Austria. While we were in the DP camp, I met an American Jewish GI from Detroit. We were married in Austria, I was 17 years old. We came to Detroit in 1955. My parents came about a year later.

After the war, we found my mothers’ sister and brother who had survived. They later moved to Israel.

Name of Ghetto(s)

Cracow (Krakow)

Occupation after the war

Homemaker and Worked in the Family Fruit Store

Spouse

Samuel Yarsike (deceased); Abraham Weberman, Fruit store owner; retired

Children

Sheldon, construction business Mark, Fruit Store Owner Debbie, Doctorate in Political Science and International Strategic Affairs Sandra, speech pathologist

Grandchildren

Seven: Brandon, Alex, Ryan, Molly, Sam, Michael and Daniel

What do you think helped you to survive?

I was so young. We wanted to live.

What message would you like to leave for future generations?

To be kind, to be nice to your people, to your family, and to support Israel. Never to forget the Holocaust.