Moshe (Mjetek) Bomberg

I love memoirs, and I especially love memoirs from survivors of the Holocaust! This was an awesome little read that fulfills a 2019 12-Literary Passport Reading Challenge (#9 - POLAND).

Mjetek Bomberg’s story is a personal account of his amazing survival during World War II. Although he mentions his family, he can't tell their stories because he was separated from them early on and doesn't know their story of how they perished. You will find a picture of him on the last page of the book, and a few other pictures, of his brother and a few friends, inside the book. He found himself, along with the rest of his family and friends, behind the wall in the ghetto at Warsaw just after the Germans arrived, and later sent to Auschwitz concentration camp with his brother. There were not only Jews in these camps. There were also Germans, called “political Germans”, who refused to pick up arms against the Jews. Mjetek’s survival at this camp was anything short of a miracle. This would be the last time he would see his brother. The German invasion cost Mjetek his entire family and all of his friends.

Even after the war, I was surprised to read that even the Polish had such hate for the Jews. The Polish were lying and building up hate against the Jews, and setting them up to be prosecuted, raiding their businesses and continued to torment them. When Mjetek decided to help save a few Jews against the orders of his boss, he had to run for his life and literally leave the country. During this time, most Jews were heading towards Israel by way of secret camps along the way and then stacked tight in the bottom of ships headed to Israel. Here, Mjetek finally found peace, a place to raise his new family.… (més)