Michael Herskovitz

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Michael Herskovitz was born in Czechoslovakia in 1929 to hard-working, happy parents. In March 1944 he noticed German soldiers in the village and learned that Germany had invaded his country. Within weeks, Michael’s father lost his grocery store. Forced to wear yellow Jewish stars on their clothing, Michael, his parents, and four siblings were transported to a ghetto for their “protection.”

In April 1944, the Nazis placed fifteen year old Michael and his family on cattle cars to camps with “better facilities.” Always kept in the dark about their future, the family reached its destination, Auschwitz, Poland. Michael’s family, along with other families, was separated into trucks: men from women, children from parents, old from young. “All you could hear were soldiers hollering, dogs barking, and people screaming and crying.”

In late 1944, Russian troops advanced on Poland. After six months in Auschwitz, Michael was transferred to Mauthausen and Gunskirchen, work camps in Austria, where the facilities and degradation were the worst he experienced. With allied troops advancing into Germany, the Nazis moved Michael from camp to camp without food or water.

Michael lost all will and hope until one day in May 1945 when he awoke to gunshots. When he looked around, his German guards had disappeared and British troops were giving out food. Michael survived mal-nutrition and Typhus fever. He re-connected with an uncle who told him that the Nazis murdered his parents and younger brother.

Michael moved to Israel where he lived, worked, and fought for the Israeli Army. Michael married in Israel and had two children and then decided to move to America in 1959 where he now resides.

Michael Herskovitz wrote two books about his experiences and survival: Early One Saturday Morning and Our Cherry Tree Still Stands.