6.+After+the+Holocaust

After of the Holocaust After he left the concentration camps, he was taken in by a family friend. Solomon met Friedain Turkheim. He married her in November of 1946. She wrote songs about her life experiences in the Holocaust. One of these songs is in the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. After the marriage, they moved to Landsberg. Friedain had a son who was born on May 13. 1948. Having survived the Holocaust, having a son brought great accomplishment and a sense of joy. In 1949, they moved to the United States. Speaking no English, they lived in New Orleans. Solomon got a job as a furrier. He survived multiple near death experiences, such as being shot at and needing surgery. It always seemed as though help was there in an unusual way when he needed it most. A man he met in his bunker was a doctor and helped with his wound. Out of the 78 family members, he was the ONLY one to survive the holocaust, watching the rest of the family slowly fade from death. Solomon passed away on August 4, 2002. He was living in Oakland Park, Kansas at age 92. He is just one more survivor that has passed his intricate story to others, but can no longer speak through word of mouth. His long lasting story has contributed to many other men and women whose lives have been impacted by such a wrecking event in history. Every survivor says there is no way for people to understand the Holocaust who didn't witness the moments of suffering and pain. Their stories and contributions of today's society have helped us to develop a better understand of what it may have been like. Some survivors refuse to talk about what happened to them as long as the rest of the world. Other survivors go into great gruesome detail, such as Solomon talked about seeing the bodies thrown into the furnaces. " His defining characteristic was courage. He was a hero to his children and grandchildren. He faced the worst and the best in life. His strength, wit and wisdom saw him through. Devoted to his religion he put on tefillin the morning before he died. Surrounded by his family his last decision was that he no longer needed to be a survivor" (Menszer). Number of survivors depends on the definition. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum basically defines a survivor as any person, of any religion, that were discriminated against by the Nazis or other religious, racial, or ethnic groups between they years 1933 and 1945. There are currently over 195,000, in which the list is still being added to constantly. However, many that have registered in the past may no longer be living. This list is optional, so many people may not be on the list, especially in other countries. According to The Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust, there are about 350,000 still living survivors. A Glance at the Life of Another Survivor

//"It is not so easy to do this interview. Last night I did not have a minute's sleep. When I sleep, I dream, I dream, I dream. We did not know who was going to be left alive. 'Don't forget, tell the world' was the last thing our friends said before they were taken to their deaths. You cannot keep it inside" (Sher).//
 * Joseph Sher: **

Growing up in the Polish town of Krzepice, his dad made clothes for priests. At age 13, he grew up with an understanding of delivering the clothing, along with helping to make it. As second class citizens in Poland, they had life filled with hate and disrespect. Czestochowa was their new hometown. The German army blockaded the street and said that all men between the ages of 15 and 80 had to lay down in the street. It was hot and they were not allowed to move. Joseph hid in the attic. About every other tenth or twelth man was killed. This day became know as Blood Monday. The synagogues were destroyed and the ghetto was created. The Jews did all of the hard work for the Germans in the ghetto. Joseph, his friend, and both of their new wives tried to flee for Russia but were stopped and turned around by the Russians. They were all taken in cattle cars and moved from place to place to construct a major roadway. The conditions were extremely harsh. Many were shot for German fun, as well as those who tried to leave. Sher survived because of two German Jews he knew from the ghetto. He worked with their suits every morning and was then called to theinfirmary. His neck was covered in bandages and he was taken to a village. They took off the bandages, gave him clothes, and sent him on a train back home. Joseph became sick with typhus and had to remain behind a wall in the house for four weeks until he was better. His grandmother wanted to be release, and she spoke to a young German officer. He shot her once, which didn't kill her, but she was done. His brother, Leo, had a pass for ten people in a porcelain factory that had been taken from the Jews. They stayed there for ten weeks and then were sent back to the ghetto. When they returned, his wife, mother, and sister were gone.He found his wife and moved to a small ghetto, where two couples stayed together and became very close with one another. They were later surrounded with machine gun, and the camp was liquidated. For the remaining part of the war, they made ammunition for the German army in the HASAG slave labor camp. They never stopped believing in god, even though they questioned what he was doing at negative points in time.

All of a sudden, the Russians came in January of 1945 and said they were free. The Germans returned and convinced the Jews to come with them away from the Russians, who were apparently "dangerous". The train took them away, and Joseph and his wife stayed behind, which they were told was the "safe option" by another man. They went to Czestochowa and shared a room with Russian captains, on the floor. Zalman Brodsky, one of the roomates, asked him to come with them as a tailor in Russian uniform. They promised it would be safe. There was a ton of food and he was well appreciated. Other Russian officers came and didn't believe the story he told. They took him to a prison camp for 5,000 German prisoners-of-war. Zalman came to the rescue. He was a big man, and Joseph was able to hide in his coat. If they shot one, they shot the other. They didn't like this idea, and he was returned to Czestochowa. The uniform destroyed and he was free; again. Sher and his wife went to the house of her family. No one in the family had survived. The janitor welcomed them, surprised by their return. Not trusting him, they left. They went to the apartments and courtyard of his family. In a discarded pile of old items, he found pictures from his past that were tossed in the courtyard by the new residents. There were stories of Jews killing and taken the blood of an innocent boy. Sher and his wife decided to get Swedish passports and stayed with the Red Cross. Joseph worked in a Displaced Persons camp and taught girls to sew. They had a child in Germany and left for the US in 1949. A reporter wrote a newspaper article on their story, and he later received a letter. A cousin translated it, but said he didn't want to know what it read. He later discovered that it said, "If Hitler did not get you over there, we are going to get you over here." Sometimes, Joseph Sher just feels the concentration camp pressure and relived the moments.He wrapped up his story by saying, "Whenever I hear singing, 'God Bless America' I have to repeat several times: God bless America. That's freedom. Nobody is going to bother me here anymore" (Sher).

Back to Main Page