Sidney Kaye was born in 1931 in Manchester, England as Sidney Cleebaner. His family was Jewish Orthodox and of Eastern European descent. The family attended synagogue in Manchester. Sidney did not recall anti-Semitism before the war. However, he remembered the war’s affect on him and...
Meir Michailovich Livshits (now known as Mark Livstone) was born in April of 1943 in a partisan camp in Belarus where he lived until the Nazis left in 1944. Mark’s parents had a partisan camp wedding. He was born in a hut built with branches. In...
Mark Irgang was born in Siberia, after his parents escaped from Jaroslav, Poland in 1944. When Mark was one year-old he and his family left for a displaced persons camp organized by HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) in Austria. Mark stayed with his parents in...
Ken Wetcher was born in 1941 in Bolshaya Rechka, a town in Siberia. At the time, the town was known for the Soviet forced labor camp there. Due to Nazi advancement into Poland and the Soviet Army’s retreat, Ken’s parents, Polish Jews, followed the Soviet Army...
Julian Goren was born in 1935 in Poland. His father was a talented musician and conductor. His mother was a communist organizer. The family lived in Warsaw and later their neighborhood became the Warsaw Ghetto. Julian recalls seeing a variety of atrocities within the ghetto. There...
Henny was born in 1926 in Stuttgart, Germany to Rose and Morris Katz. Before the war, Henny had a happy childhood. Hitler’s rise to power changed everything. In 1933 laws and restrictions against Jews set in. Henny’s gentile friends became cruel. An anti-Semitic newspaper was prominently...
[caption id="attachment_647" align="alignright" width="270"] Heinz Wartski pictured with his sister, Ruth[/caption] Date of Birth: 1929 Heinz Wartski grew up in Danzig with his parents and two siblings. In the 1930's, the Nazis gained control of the Danzig government and systematically targeted the Jewish people. "We were a...
Elena was born in Pisa, Italy in 1924. Elena was from a Jewish family. She had two sisters and a brother. After attending public school in Pisa, Elena and her family moved to Rome when she was 14 years old where she finished her education...
Christopher Marian Ballaban was born in Boryslaw, Poland. Born Marian, he took the name Christopher upon his baptism at the age of 16. Chris grew up in a loving family. His father was very patriotic, and Chris adopted his father’s love of Poland. In October...
Annemarie was born in 1922 in Berlin, Germany. She was a “mischling,” the child of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. Her father was a successful corporate attorney who worked for the German steel and heavy metal industry. She experienced anti-Semitism at her school. Annemarie's...