Biography

In today’s world, very few people have a true sparkle in their eyes and a sincere smile. At 86 years young, Michael Herskovitz has that sparkle and he has that smile and is truly a very happy person. Michael could have 6 million reasons to be an angry person, a bitter person, an unhappy person. Instead, Michael has chosen to have a positive outlook and live every hour to the fullest. He questions how the Holocaust could have happened, but has yet to find an answer.
Michael began life in 1929 in the small village of Botfalva, Czechoslovakia. His parents, Pearl and Joseph, owned the only grocery store in the village with a farm attached where the family, which included 5 children, lived.

Pearl (mother) and Joseph (father) wedding, 1919

The residents of Botfalva had no way to obtain news as there was no television or radio. The closest town that received any news at all was 4 kilometers away, about 2 ½ miles. A man who heard the news would then walk through Botfalva with a drum and announce what he heard. You can imagine that many people missed the news or, similar to “Whisper down the Lane”, it was delivered differently by the town crier than what was actually taking place simply because the crier probably could not remember, verbatim, everything that was said.

The residents of Botfalva had no way to obtain news as there was no television or radio. The closest town that received any news at all was 4 kilometers away, about 2 ½ miles. A man who heard the news would then walk through Botfalva with a drum and announce what he heard. You can imagine that many people missed the news or, similar to “Whisper down the Lane”, it was delivered differently by the town crier than what was actually taking place simply because the crier probably could not remember, verbatim, everything that was said.

The Nazis had completely shaved each prisoner, head to toe, and gave them prison clothes to wear. The entire orientation into the camp was done to demoralize and dehumanize the prisoners. When they were changing into the prison clothes that were all different sizes the soldiers announced “if your clothes do not fit exchange with someone.” Michael remembers turning and walking a few steps to exchange the items with another prisoner. In a yard much like a football stratum he lost sight of his father. Not being able to call out for fear of being beaten or worse shot, he did not know that would be the last time he would see his father.

Michael was put into a barracks with other children. The barracks were designed to sleep 18 people the bunks were three high and six long.

A whistle was blown each morning and everyone had to dress and line up shoulder to shoulder saying nothing looking straight ahead. This was called “APPEL”. They were looked at head to toe focusing on the look on their faces, if they looked frightened, sick or were crying they were taken out of line and placed into a truck and taken away. After appel the prisoners were then permitted to run quickly to a building to wash up, and then return immediately to the bunk. All under the watchful eye of armed guards, after washing up, they were given some clear soup, a small piece of bread, sometimes there would be some butter.

Auschwitz front gate “Arbeit Macht Frei” “Work makes you free”

The prisoners had no say in anything; rather, they were told 24 hours a day by the guards what to do, when to do it, how to do it. The guards controlled everything – work, sleep, food, clothing, toilet use. No one would resist as the guards were armed and had dogs and the only options seemed to be beaten or death by gun.

Several times each day, the prisoners would line up (appeal) and the Nazis decided who was able to work and who was too feeble, for whatever reason. The feeble ones were taken away and never seen again. Sometimes, Dr. Mengele, the German doctor who experimented on the prisoners, would stop by and look over the Jews and select who he wanted to be taken to his office. The rest were sent to work. It is ironic that the sign over the entrance to Auschwitz, “ArbietMachtFrie”, translates in Englist to “Work makes you free”. It certainly didn’t free the imprisoned Jews and others that the Nazis wanted to eliminate.

Michael was often sent to a field to pick potatoes or to a cinderblock factory. He and the others were never out of sight of the guards with the guns and the dogs. The prisoners had to count how many were on the truck taking them to work. The same amount had to return on the truck, dead or alive. If a Jew did not do their work to the satisfaction of the guards, they were either shot or beaten.

One day, when Michael was working next to two German soldiers, he heard them talking about one older prisoner pushing a wheelbarrow full of rocks and sand too slowly. One of the soldiers, laughingly, asked the other if he could shot the slow Jew in the head. Without a thought, the other soldier aimed his gun and shot the man between the eyes. Michael witnessed the entire event. A 13 year old child, separated from the safety of his parents’ arms, witnessing a man being shot between the eyes. Michael cannot remember what went through his mind at that time. After all who could kill an unarmed and non-threatening person in cold blood? To the two guards, it was like being in an arcade and shooting at wooden ducks to get a prize.

Michael never believed he would leave Auschwitz alive. As it turned out, Michael found out a few years later that of the 8,000 children at Auschwitz, only 90 survived. 90!

Once or twice a week, a siren would sound, they needed to return to their cell block immediately. The prisoners knew that the siren meant that the guards would pick a barrack at random, evacuate it and take all of those prisoners to the crematorium. No reason. Just because. Again, out of fear, no one questioned their actions.Some Jews were selected as supervisors (capos). In order for those supervisors to live, they needed to become just like the German guards. There was never a moment that the Jews weren’t guarded; even by their own people.

There were no doctors to take care of prisoners, so there was no sense in complaining if someone was sick or injured. Complaining would just mean death. Michael and the others lived like animals and it was truly a case of survival of the fittest. Weakness meant death and strength meant a chance, not a guarantee, to live another day.

One night, Michael and his cellblock mates felt that they were going to be the next barracks evacuated and taken away. When the guards opened the double doors of the barracks, about 30 children, including Michael, ran, literally for their lives! Sirens sounded, loudspeakers were used, and guards appeared with guns and the dogs.   Michael was caught outside the cellblock that housed twins. Twins were used by Dr. Mengele for his experiments. Michael was asked if he belonged in the twins’ cellblock and he acknowledged that he did. The guard threw him inside. Michael later found out, upon sneaking back to his barracks a few days later, that most of the 30 children were caught and killed. They were replaced by new faces; however, at this point, everyone just looked the same.

This was the life that Jews, and others that the Nazis felt were sub-human, lived. Each day was the same except for not knowing if that day was going to be the last.

Gunskirchen

More time passed and eventually, as the Russians advanced further, Michael was again taken deeper into Poland; this time to a camp named Gunskirchen. This camp was located in a large forest and was surrounded by barbed wire and there were German guards with guns. It was summer and Michael and the other prisoners were told to sleep outside – no tents, no buildings, and no cover of any kind. The prisoners were fed once a day and ate their “meal” outside. Again, there was no work.

The Nazis were still bringing people into the camp wearing civilian clothes. The Jews found out that these people were Jewish soldiers from all over Europe who had been captured and brought to this camp.

As the prisoners kept being moved deeper and deeper into Poland ahead of the approaching Russian army, the living situation would get worse. At one “camp”, the Jews had no toilets; only holes in the ground. One day, as the Jews were being served what was really garbage soup made with the garbage from the camp and stored in a 30 gallon barrel on a carriage pulled by a horse, someone from somewhere threw a bomb which exploded near the horse and carriage. Michael and many of the others ran to grab pieces of the horse to eat, raw, and some even picked up human body pieces in an effort to eat to survive. It is astonishing what humans will do to survive, even when they are in the throes of starvation and, to a degree, insanity from the physical and mental abuse they received on a minute by minute basis.

People from all over Europe were being brought to this camp. There was no longer a separation of people. The combination of so many people, the lack of bathroom facilities and the outdoor living arrangements resulted in absolute filth. Michael and everyone else became covered in lice. Every day, the dead bodies were removed. All hope seemed gone. Any thoughts of living free had no chance of credibility. Michael and everyone else were barely people anymore.

In very early May, 1945, Michael heard a lot of gun shots. He and the others noticed that there were no longer any German guards. All of their uniforms were lying around and all of the civilian clothes the guards had taken from the Jewish soldiers, along with all of their valuables, were gone with the guards. The guards had obviously tried to disguise themselves and just walked away. Michael and three others decided to gather what strength they had left and they rose and walked out of the camp. They walked for quite a while until they came to a main street in a town nearby. They spotted trucks being driven by what he found out later were English soldiers. When the soldiers saw Michael and the other three people, they stopped and tossed an open can of raw hamburger meat to the now free Jews.

Michael started eating the hamburger meat and sand from the side of the road and the next thing he knew, he awoke in a German hospital in Munich. Michael had Typhus. Michael had heard that a lot of the Jews who were liberated had ultimately died of Typhus. Michael was 15 years old and only weighed about 45 kilos or 96 pounds.

Michael was lucky in that he recovered from the Typhus. When he was able to walk and eat normally, he was sent to Budapest for rehabilitation, where he remained for a few months. Finally, an uncle of Michael’s was located in Michael’s home town in Czechoslovakia.

Michael’s uncle, whose entire family was killed in the camps, came for him and took him to his house to live. There, amazingly, Michael was reunited with his brother, Ernest and his two sisters, Helen and Malvina, all of whom had also survived and been liberated from the camps. He then found out that his father Joseph, his mother Pearl and his little brother Belala were all killed in the camps.

Soon thereafter, Ernest decided to move to Canada to be with some of Joseph and Pearl’s friends. Helen and Malvina remained with him and their uncle.

By 1947, Michael felt that he needed to know a trade and decided to learn to be an auto mechanic. That year, he also trained to become an Israeli soldier.

Michael was working as an auto mechanic when Israel was fighting to become a state. Michael decided to join the Israeli army for two years and fight for Israel’s independence.

Life after the Holocaust

Once released from the Israeli army, Michael worked as an auto mechanic and was able to buy an old truck. Michael worked day and night just trying to make enough money to move to a small farm and worked the farm.

Michael would drive the truck to town to deliver goods from the farm. They worked the farm for about 8 years during which time; their two children were born Pearl and Eddie.

In 1959, it was decided that Michael would go to the United States, specifically Philadelphia, and stay with his sister, Helen and her husband, Willy. His purpose was to see what job opportunities presented themselves. Michael arrived in America without being able to speak a word of English.

Michael was offered a job as an auto mechanic assistant. He worked 6 days a week for 10-12 hours a day. He was paid $30 a week. He was fortunate that he did not have to pay any rent to Helen and Willy and found he was able to save some money to buy his own tools. About three months later, Michael knew he wanted to stay in America and wanted his family with him. Michael was able to rent an apartment in West Philadelphia and, with the money that was saved the family was able to make the move from Israel to Philadelphia.

Michael worked during the day and Frida worked at night, limited by her inability to speak English, but was able to find work for 5-6 hours a night sewing in a factory. After a while, they were able to buy a $100 car!

They saved as much as they could and with the help of family loans, they were able to put buy a row home in Overbrook Park. Michael would occasionally remember how he thought he would never have a life while he was imprisoned in the concentration camps and yet he now was working in a job he loved and owned a home in America. He felt like a very lucky man.

Since Michael’s retirement, he has dedicated a great deal of his time to making certain that the Holocaust is never forgotten. Is it people’s fears that make them believe that this never happened? Is it just ignorance or denial? With the recent rise in Anti-Semitism, Michael worries that a Holocaust could happen again.

Michael spends many days and evenings going to organization events, to middle schools and high schools, universities, to synagogues and churches telling his story of horror to all who will listen. He has appeared as a featured guest on many local and national television shows and has personally spoken to Governor Ed Rendell at Holocaust Remembrance Day events in Philadelphia. He has spoken at the White House, before the United States Congress and the U.S. Navy.