Margaret Kagan Survivor

Krepice, Poland, July 27, 1917 Joseph Sher was born to Simon and Felicia Sher. Simon was a tailor mainly for priest. Joseph had five other siblings, three sister and two other brothers. As he grew up he learned that Jews were disregarded and second-hand citizens in Poland. But little did he know that it would get much worse for them.

Born in Poland, Henia Weit was the youngest of nine children in her family. She lived in a town by the name of Sambor. Unfortunately, the town was bombarded by German soldiers shortly after Hitler started his reign of terror on the Jews. Henia’s family was forced to do laborious work in a ghetto until they were all deported to a concentration camp. Fortunately for Henia, she was able to escape and never went to the concentration camp herself. Instead, she had to survive for several years alone, with only her sister to turn to.

These women were resilient, they didn’t let the hardships of the holocaust ruin their chance of survival. Like Sonia their spirit was never shattered. Today people show fortitude in their own ways, but none of them have been through the things like Sonia was. The Minuskin family endured pain but they kept going they never quit and they got to live and see the day they were liberated by the Soviet Army September 7, 1944 all due to Sonia Minuskins determination to survive. She walked until her feet bled and she still kept going. Nothing got in her way of survival for her kids. Sonia escaped execution and avoided capture more than once, her brother was executed and she kept going. Sonias own mother was killed along with her aunt, but Sonia kept going. Her children are alive because of their mother and because of that they were successful in life. Their mother endured overwhelming odds and they survived. They immigrated to America after the Holocaust and they prospered. Sonia Minuskin died in 2008 at the age of 102, through everything she went through she kept her sense of humor, and love for her family living a happy life. Shanke (Sonia) nee Orlinsky Minuskin showed awe-inspiring

On the other hand, at first Joseph, who was new to basement living often, spent his days quietly pacing. Anna noticed that at times he appeared to have silent remorseful secrets in his eyes and a tortured soul. But as time passed, he too accepted his fate and began amusing himself by talking. He would talk about anything and everything, including the occasional whiff of Miss Margot's perfume which Joseph said, "reminds me of a day when I had walked into my house and found that it was warm and cozy and smelt like sweet vanilla and pine

The most memorable genocide constructed abruptly by German Nazis left both Jewish and German-Jewish residents of Poland in a whirl of destruction. 1933 had been the year that changed the lives of billions, but one young lady by the name of Stefania (Fusia) Podgorska managed to save thirteen, including herself along with her young sister. Upon moving to Przemysl and working a steady job as a grocer, ghettos in Poland had begun to be invaded, and her mother and eldest brother were not too lucky. Podgorska’s family had been sent to Germany for forced labor, like the rest of the Jewish community in that vicinity. While still without question, going through a rough patch at the grocery store, oddly enough, she had also been relieved simply because

On January 31st, 1934 Eva Mozes Kor and her twin sister, Miriam, were born in a small village in Portz, Romania. Alexander and Jaffa were Eva’s parents who also gave birth to Eva’s two other sisters, Edit and Aliz. Eva and Miriam both went to a one-room school for their first 4 years of education (Candles Holocaust Museum). Eva Kor is a survivor and a phenomenal twin who endured all of Dr. Mengele’s experiments and survived the horrors of Auschwitz.

His fathers ramblings of French Revolutionary ideas during his youth meant nothing to him until years later. Today, he ages with the many of the surviving veterans on a stretch of road in the neighboring town of Roxborough. Joseph married his comrade John Tibbens sister Ann, joining the ranks who married soldiers sister's and older daughters after the war. His cooper skills allow him to leave a simple life, raising two children while the legend of his soldier years grows every year. His children asked more than once if the stories were as dramatic elder women's gossip. Silence and smiles usually followed.

The government didn’t care if they were sick, starving, alive or dead. (Roy 45). Because they had to live in the ghetto, the Nazis controlled everything they did such as how much food they got to eat, which wasn't very much (Roy 11, 20, 33 and 50). Many people were very thin, and very hungry (Roy 50). Jews were normally very cold, with no heat and had to huddle together to stay warm (Roy 20). Lots of children, including Silvia couldn't come out of their home or be seen by anyone, or they would be taken away and put into concentration camps (Roy 20). The Nazis were very harsh to the Jews and treated them like animals and not like humans.

In late 1936, the family moved to Czestochowa, Poland. When the German army came in, they made every male Jew from age fifteen and eighty gather in the market. Since the Sher’s lived on the third floor, Joseph hid in the attic.

Joseph’s father, an agent for a wealthy baron, wanted him to be a businessman, but Joseph’s mother wanted him to be a rabbi. He attended private school from ages four to thirteen. Afterwards, he wanted to go to America (Laro, 1964). At the time, many Poles were moving to America to escape religious persecution, as anti-Semitism began to rise in Poland. Then, a large group of Poles migrated to America in search of economic opportunity after losing land and stability in Poland. Most of these immigrants entered the country through Ellis Island, but there were other ways into the country. Eventually, people began to arrive in America for a better life in general because of America’s reputation of having all sorts of freedoms and liberties, which is the reason

It was the year 1939 when the Nazis invaded Poland. All of the Jews had to hide with Gentile families, or they would have been sent to concentration camps, an awful place where suffering and death was inevitable for the helpless Jewish men and women. The Jews who were fortunate enough to find a non-Jewish family that was willing to take care of them, spent several years hiding, staying away from windows and scurrying upstairs to the isolated bedroom whenever they heard footsteps. They spent years away from their family members and the outdoors in fear that they would be caught and killed. This is the life of Annie De Leeuw, our young, naive Jewish narrator.

He relocated to the Ottoman Empire after becoming exiled from Spain. His father, Isaac Hamon, was a famous Spanish court physician. Because of his father’s previous position, he was able to secure a position as Sultan Bayazid II personal physician. After the death of Bayazid, which he was rumored to have murdered by multiple sources, he then came into service of Selim I. After twenty-five years of service to the sultans, Joseph passed on the way back from a trip to Egypt. During his time spent in court, he was able to protect and promote learning in Jewish communities.

Joseph was the eleventh of twelve sons born to the patriarch, Jacob, and the firstborn of his beloved wife, Rachel. Jacob spoiled Joseph. At least that is what is implied, for he gave him the gift of a colorful robe, a robe he did not give to his other children. Perhaps I am reading something into the story that is not there, but Joseph appeared to be a very good kid, a little cocky, maybe. He was Jacob’s pride and joy and how he must have felt blessed by God to have such a son.

Otto Frank was the only member of his immediate family that had survived at the concentration camps. On July 18, 1945 he met two of his sisters that were at the same camp as Anne and Margot and they delivered the tragic news of their deaths to Otto.

Joseph had also gone through a traumatic time in his life. In Genesis 37, it tells us that Joseph was sold to Midianite merchants by his brothers. Not only were they jealous of how much their father loved him, but Joseph was irritating them by