Before the Concentration Camps
Jack, commonly known by his Polish name, Yanek, was 10 years old in 1939 when the Germans invaded Poland. He lived with his parents, Mina and Oskar, in an apartment on Krakusa Street, Krakow. He enjoyed reading, building his own gadgets, and all things American. Yanek went to school, synagogue, the movies, and hung out with his friends. His life was like any other Jewish boy's in that time and culture.
When the Germans invaded Poland, things began to change for the Jews. First, Germans and Poles stopped buying things from Jewish businesses. Then, the Germans put laws and restrictions into place for all Jews, like curfew, wearing Star of David armbands, and no school, movies, or library visits. All Jewish religious activities had to be done in secret, like Yanek's bar mitzvah (a boy's passage into manhood on his 13th birthday) held in a basement of an abandoned building. After that, the walls were built of for the Ghetto, businesses were closed, food was limited, and it would only get worse. The Germans brought Jews from other places to the Ghetto constantly, and soon began thier work assignments, resettlements, and deportations.
The Concentration Camps
Yanek was first taken to the Plaszow concentration camp, near Krakow, in 1942. He had been the last member of his family left in the Ghetto. In Plaszow, Yanek faced death from starvation, overwork, the Nazis, and the infamous Amon Goeth (#Plaszow), but he found Moshe, his uncle, there. Together they worked to survive, and when Yanek came into possesion of some money, he and Moshe used it to buy food. Unfortunately, Moshe was killed one day while working in the camp. This was devastating to Yanek, and he almost lost his will to survive.
After Plaszow, Yanek went through nine other concentration camps throughout the rest of the war, until he was released by American soldiers in 1945 from Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany.
They were different rooms throughout a building of torture created by the Nazis.
After the Camps
The American soldiers took the prisoners from Dachau to Munich, a city occupied by Allied forces. The newly-released prisoners were amazed and overjoyed at all the comforts of regular life that they had not had for years, like more than enough food at the table, a pillow, and a toothbrush. These small joys meant so much to these people who had survived the Holocaust.
In Munich, Yanek met and reconnected with a neighbor, Mrs. Immerglick, who had lived in the same apartment building as Yanek and his family. He also met a cousin of his, Youzek and his wife, in Munich. Meeting these people again was extremely uplifting and encouraging to Yanek. While visiting them, Yanek learned from Youzek that since he was an orphan, he could go to America, so he signed up for the program and, eventually, got to America. Yanek thrived in America, and fought with the U.S. army in the Korean War after he had become a citizen. He then went to New York City to visit a family, the Gamzers, who he had met in Munich. He got reacquainted and fell in love with the daughter, Ruth, and got married to her a few months later. They had two sons and four grandchildren, and went throughout the United States to tell others of their experiences during the Holocaust. Yanek died on April 1, 2017, but his family and memory live on today.
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