Aidan Silverman’s Family Story:
My great Grandma Minnie, whose real name is Minia Storch, was the only one out of her immediate family that survived the Holocaust. Minia was one of six children, and lived with her parents (Yakob) Jakob and Pearl behind a dairy store that they owned and operated. They lived in Lodz, and once the war broke out, they were in the Lodz Ghetto. Minia’s mom, Pearl, and the oldest son Kalman, both died in the Lodz Ghetto. Then Minia’s father Jakob and her remaining siblings, sisters Luba, Chava, Estera, and baby brother Icek (Issac) were all sent on the cattle cars to Auschwitz. It was then in Auschwitz that the sisters were separated from their father and brother, to never see them again. Minia recalls the woman having their heads shaved and having to put on the prisoner clothes. It was then that Dr. Mengele did his selection. He put Minia in one line, and then put her three sisters in another line. That would be the last time that Minia would ever see her sisters, as they were all sent to the gas chambers. Minia would go on to find two cousins in Auschwitz, Luba and Regina who were both sisters. The three of them were able to stay together through the remainder of the war. They survived multiple death marches, 5 camps, disease and the freezing cold winter months. It was in April 1945 that they were liberated by the British from Bergen Belson. After the war Minia was in the DP (displaced persons) camp, and was looking to see if any of her family had survived, they had not. She met a man named Muni Uscherowitz, who was also looking for survivors. Minia and Muni married a year later in April 1946 and then a year later had my grandmother Pearl, who has changed her name to Pauline who everyone calls Gigi. Then two years later the three of them would travel on a ship from Munich Germany to New York City to start their lives over in hopes for a better life. Muni lost his brother Aaron, on a death march, before the war ended. He also lost his parents Yosef and Idessa during the war. Muni was liberated from Dachau by the Americans in April 1945. |
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