My 101-Year-Old Grandfather, Papa Jack, Shares His Holocaust Survival Story with us

Summary

Raising Good Humans Podcast

Host: Dr. Aliza Pressman
Episode: My 101-Year-Old Grandfather, Papa Jack, Shares His Holocaust Survival Story with Us
Date: September 12, 2025

---

Overview

In this deeply moving episode, Dr. Aliza Pressman honors the 101st birthday of her grandfather, Jack Waxella (“Papa Jack”), by sharing his remarkable story of survival during the Holocaust. Stepping outside the usual scope of parenting advice, Aliza facilitates a conversation that traverses Jack's idyllic childhood in prewar Poland, the onset of antisemitism, the horrors and close calls of ghettoization and Nazi camps, and the love story with his wife Sabina (“Mama Bina”)—all of which shaped Dr. Pressman and her family. Through first-person recounting, Jack insists on the urgency of memory and the importance of transmitting the painful lessons and hopes for the future.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Childhood in Pre-War Poland

• Family and Community

  • Jack describes growing up in Yedlinsk, Poland, part of a loving Jewish family.
  • Community life was joyful, with large family gatherings and friendships across religious lines.
  • [03:37] “It’s just unbelievable life we got in the city of Yedlinsk with my family, with my brothers and sisters... Every Friday we were doing candle lightings and eating—20 some people, relatives. And we were so happy in life.” – Jack

• Early Signs of Antisemitism

  • Changes began around 1937, escalating after Hitler's rise.
  • Attacks on Jewish property, schools, and synagogues became frequent.
  • [05:58] “They start bringing up stores, they start stone throwing in the synagogue, the glass breaking glass every day... This heinous gentile people for Jews.”

2. The German Invasion & Its Immediate Impact

• Occupying Forces

  • German troops entered his town shortly after Jack’s 15th birthday in September 1939.
  • Jews were rounded up as hostages, subjected to torture and forced labor.
  • [09:15] “When the Germans come in... what they did, they took hostages from our city. And I was involved in it. My brother was in it. They took over 50 people hostages... every night we boil the whole night over there laying on the floor.” – Jack

• Destruction of Normal Life

  • Jewish children were barred from all public education and communal life instantly.
  • Forced labor and the creation of the ghetto followed quickly.

3. Life in the Ghetto

• Deprivation & Fear

  • Multiple families were packed into tiny spaces, food dwindled to watery soup once a day.
  • Jews were forced to wear armbands/yellow stars.
  • [13:03] “A ghetto means that make it six, seven blocks from the city. Wire things around every place. Three families or four families was living in a place. It was just not to describe it.” – Jack

• Pet Loss as Precursor to Greater Violence

  • Germans killed Jewish-owned pets as part of dehumanizing tactics, often under threat of violence against their owners.
  • [20:10] “A few days before the liquidate the ghetto they killed all the Jewish [dogs]... My friends, Mama Bina had a dog... She almost got killed this time. They arrested her for a whole night.”

4. Liquidation and Survival

• Witnessing Atrocities

  • During ghetto liquidations, families were torn apart and killed en masse, often buried alive.
  • [21:08] “They made graves and put them. And you have to watch it. And they threw them. And in the graves they buried them alive. It’s never went away from my head.”

• Family’s Journey Through Camps

  • Jack and his family were moved through a series of labor and concentration camps.
  • He describes premonitions and specific acts that helped him temporarily keep loved ones safe or survive selections.

• Acts of Resistance and Escape

  • In one camp, Jack volunteers to take his father’s place in an execution lineup, escapes a mass grave, and hides in the forest with help from sympathetic Poles.
  • [31:43] “We fell down at the grave. Officer… Don’t shoot to the dengue. If they would shoot, they would kill him to get to us... Run. I went all the way in the grave till the end. I jumped over and… went to a Polish guy... and I was [hiding] every night at the force [forest].”

5. Love Amid Horror: Relationship with Sabina (Mama Bina)

• Childhood Roots

  • Jack and Sabina grew up in the same small town; his childhood had a crush on her.
  • [08:45] “She said, Jack is... Yitzchak is crazy. Something wrong with him.” – Jack recalling Sabina’s reaction to his childhood jealousy.

• Separation and Reunification

  • Despite being in different camps and separated by violence, Jack sought to keep Sabina safe whenever possible. He told her to escape before deadly actions, and later their emotional reunion is a central, powerful moment.
  • [34:33] “When I come into the camp... I pulled up the window ... Sabina start to holler. Look who is alive. Jack is alive. And they know... that they killed the people. But they didn’t know that I survived.”

• Enduring Connection

  • Throughout their imprisonment, Jack and Sabina maintained friendship and affection.
  • After the war, both doubted they’d see the other; their reunion in Poland was both joyful and awkward (see quotes below).

6. Trauma, Survival, and Finding Purpose

• Lifelong Psychological Impact

  • Nightmares, PTSD-like symptoms, and ongoing struggle to make sense of survival.
  • [39:45] “[At night] I start getting crazy. I hit sometime Sabina and she said, ‘Are you crazy? What happened to you?’ And I said, ‘No, I was fighting with the Germans…’ I went to a doctor. He said, ‘There’s nothing I can do for you. It’s never going away from [you].’”

• Liberation and Emptiness

  • Russians ultimately liberate Jack and a handful of other survivors.
  • Returning to his home, he encounters hostility from non-Jewish neighbors, emphasizing lingering antisemitism.
  • [65:35] “I said, I don’t want nothing. I want to just give me some photographs... She said to me, ‘If you’re not going to leave, you could be killed here. They don’t like Jews anymore in Poland.’ ... I couldn’t believe it.”

7. Rebuilding and Legacy

• Choosing Hope and Family

  • Reunion with Sabina; awkwardness overcome, they start dating and eventually build a joyful life together in the wake of devastation.
  • [72:10] “Just unbelievable life. What kind of life. I wish everybody would have a life like I did with Sabina... If not for her, probably I wouldn’t survive anymore... Now we got eleven great grandkids.”

• Transmission of Memory

  • Jack’s sense of moral responsibility to speak out.
  • Fears about the world forgetting—and possibly repeating—what happened.
  • [82:08] “Yes, that’s why I tell the story, that we should never let it happen again... Not to be forgotten. We should never forget what they did to 6 million Jewish people.”

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On Joyful Childhood

• [03:37] “Every Friday... candle lightings and eating—20 some people, relatives. And we were so happy in life.”

On Betrayal by Friends

• [26:44] “Friends that you play with and everything else... How can it happen? You couldn't even talk to them. It was just not to believe it.”

On Mass Atrocity

• [21:08] “They made graves and put them. And you have to watch it. And they threw them. And in the graves, they buried them alive. It’s never went away from my head.”

On Miraculous Survival

• [34:33] “Sabina start to holler. Look who is alive. Jack is alive. And they know it, that they killed the people. But they didn’t know that I survived.”

On Trauma

• [39:45] “At night... I hit sometime Sabina and she said, ‘Are you crazy? What happened to you?’ ... I went to a doctor. He said, ‘There’s nothing I can do for you. It’s never going away from [you].’”

On Rebuilding After Liberation

• [72:10] “Just unbelievable life. I wish everybody would have a life like I did with Sabina.”

On Moral Duty to Remember

• [82:08] “...that we should never let it happen again. That’s why I survived... Not to be forgotten. We should never forget what they did to 6 million Jewish people.”

---

Important Timestamps

• [02:39] Jack’s introduction and memories of prewar family life
• [05:58] Description of Hitler’s broadcast and growing antisemitism
• [09:15] German invasion and rounding up of Jewish hostages
• [13:03] Life inside the Jewish ghetto
• [20:10] Dogs killed before the ghetto liquidation
• [21:08] The horror of witnessing mass killings
• [34:33] Jack's escape from execution and joyful reunion with Sabina
• [39:45] Jack speaks on nightmares, marriage, and survivor’s guilt
• [41:14] Describing the continued ordeal as the war dragged on
• [65:35] Returning home post-liberation and facing antisemitism
• [72:10] On love, marriage, and the pride of building a large family
• [82:08] Jack articulates the necessity of remembrance

---

Final Reflections

This episode is not only pivotal family testimony, but also a testament to the importance of memory, love, and resilience. Jack’s narrative provides an intimate account of losses and perseverance, reminding listeners why it’s essential to keep such stories alive—not just for history’s sake but to fortify our commitments to justice, compassion, and the prevention of future atrocities.

“I tell the story that we should never let it happen again... that’s why I survived.” – Jack [82:08]

“I promise I will never let anybody forget.” – Dr. Aliza [82:43]

Transcript

[A]

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Welcome to Raising Good humans podcast. I'm Dr. Liza Pressman, and today is like nothing I've ever done. I hope you'll stick with me because I'm sharing with you an episode I just recorded with my 101-year-old grandfather. It's his birthday this weekend, and in honor of that, I. I wanted to help him share his story of surviving the Holocaust. And it's so wild to me that this man, who is so alert and cognitively competent and has a better memory than I do, is turning 101 this weekend. And he really, really deeply cares that nobody forgets these stories, that people learn them, and that we live our lives in consideration of the experiences of the past. And I certainly believe that this is such a privilege that I have to have my grandfather still with us today and to be part of this lineage and also to be able to share it with you. So, no, we're not technically talking about raising our kids, but his story from when he was a little kid until the war ended, is extraordinary. And to be here today to tell you about it and to share it with you means the world. I know it's weird because this episode is a normal episode. So there are gonna be ads. Like, he's gonna be talking about really difficult things, and then it's gonna go to an ad. And that's a little weird, but I think you guys can handle it and I can. And there's also things that he talks about where he probably assumes, you know, what it is, like the name of a concentration camp or a reference to a time during World War II that maybe you don't know. So I'm hoping it all will weave together and make sense to you and that you will pick up on the exquisite life lessons of this incredible survivor whose story is part of how I came to be who I am. And this is just an incredible gift. So thank you for being here with me, and please stick around. So I want to start with you. Introducing who are you?

[B]

My name is Jack Waxella. I'm a survivor. I survived the war in Poland. That's what I. My father's name was Shlomo. My mother Pesa. My brother was Yechiel. My sister was Jochebed. My other sister was Bruha. And we both living in Yadielinsk in Poland before the Second World War started.

[A]

And when were you born?

[B]

I was born at 1924, the 15th of September.

[A]

So your 101st birthday is this?

[B]

Yes, I am 101. 101 year old, right now.

[A]

Tell me what your childhood was like.

[B]

Until the Holocaust in Poland, when I was in the second or the third grade. What was so beautiful living in my city of Yedlinsk in Poland. Met friends, Jewish friends, gentle friends. I was a soccer player. I was good in soccer, playing. And I was so happy in my life when I grow up. It's just unbelievable life we got in the city of Yednsk with my family, with my brothers and sisters. It was just not to describe it. Every Friday we were doing candle lightnings and eating 20 some people relatives. And we were so happy in life. We were living in our city. It's just not to describe it. Before the antisemitism started up in 1937. In the beginning we didn't pay attention so much. It was just not to describe it. This heinous gentile people for Jews, they start bringing up stores, they start stone thrown in the synagogue, the glass breaking glass every day. And that's only thing. But we went through it between the end of 37 in 1938, when Hitler come up and said he is going to invade Poland. That was a loudspeaker. What did the Polish the community did that everybody should hear Hitler speaking. And he said they put Hitler on.

[A]

The loudspeaker in the town.

[B]

Yes, that's what every. Yes, that was a loudspeaker. And it was intern of Yadielsk. And everybody could hear him speaking that he is going to invite Poland. He invite Czechoslovakia. He took already in the 38th, he took Czechoslovakia. And after death he said, we going to go into Poland. We're going to invite Poland. Indeed, Polish people starting to get anti. Semitism was starting up so bad that you couldn't walk on the street in the nighttime, not to be beaten up or something, or be stabbed or something. That how life was going on before the war started up. Every day we went to school, we got trouble in school with the kids starting to say, you are a Jew, you should belong here. It is just unbelievable to hear what happened between the timing and the antisemitism when it started up. And it was just not to believe it in life.

[A]

When were you wound up and went to a work camp? And will you just also talk about knowing Grandma?

[B]

Grandma was living in the same city. Yes, because Sabina was living in the same city, but three blocks away from us. Every day I saw her, you know, working or something, or when we went to school, you know, we went all the time together. And I started my love started in the beginning of My life when I started loving her in this. And I follow her all the time. And I tell you a joke. When she was starting to drive me, she drove a bike. And I was jealous in the city and I threw her over. I. And I stopped here and she went in. And us people got in the street to sell needles, all the kind of thing in a follow of them. And they said, what happened to you? I said, I'm sorry what I did.

[A]

And this was when you were a kid?

[B]

That's what. When I was a kid. She went into my mother, she said, he is. Jack is. Yitzchak is crazy. Something wrong with him.

[A]

But it was because you had a crush. Yeah, you had a crush on her. And then what happened? What changed where you went? When did you have to leave school?

[B]

When the Germans come in? In 39, the 15th of the month. It was pretty close to my birthday before maybe a few days. I don't know exactly the date. It was pretty close to the 15th. That was in September 39th. When the Germans come in, they come in straight to our city. When they come in north. Already in the beginning, what they did, they took hostages from our city. And I was involved in it. My brother was in it. They took over 50 people hostages. And they took us 12 kilometers away from Yedniz to Radom. When Tukas to Radom took us into our military, a Polish military, before that was some places that they could take us. And they put us on the floor and they start to say to us, you have to say, if Paul, if the one Jew is responsible for the next Jew in Barsa was not going to fail you, you're going to be killed right here on the spot. Finally, bars are found, but few hours later. Every night we boil the whole night over there laying on the floor. And you have to not stop saying this. The whole night you have to say, one Jew is responsible for the next one. In the morning they let us loose. We walked back. It is pretty close to 12 kilometers. And that's what we went back to our city of Yagninsk.

[A]

And then when you got back to the city, was Grandma one of the hostages or just you?

[B]

No, Grandma was not on the hostages. Me and my brother and some other people. But Gilmab was not this time there? No, it was other girls there, but was boys and girls. But they took over 50. They shut it down and they took us. That's what happened when they let us lose. Every day they say you have to come up to work in the morning from 7 o' clock on every day we have to get up pretty close to 50 or 100 and be starting. It's starting to get cold already in the rain. And this you have to sweep the floor. Any place where they used to be starting to go in the places kids couldn't go. Jewish kids. The same day when the Germans come in. No Jewish kids can go anymore to school or to universities. Any place. A Jew can never go in public schooling.

[A]

So now you had just turned 15, right?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And now you couldn't go to school and they made you work and you went to a work camp.

[B]

We was still not no camp. They made it no camp. It was like what they call it. They make a ghetto.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

When the Germans was every day we was working and they decided they gonna make a ghetto. A ghetto means that make it six, seven blocks from the city. Putting wire things around every place. Three families or four families was living in a place. It was just not to describe it. The life, what kind of life you have when you live. Some people, it was unbelievable. A disaster in the food. One time a day soup. They starting in the ghetto to do it. It was a sign. When you come into the ghetto, Yadlin's ghetto, no juices can go out. Mid nothing. Nobody besides mid Germans to go to work. If somebody would go out, they would kill him instantly. You have to put right away. They decided when they made the ghetto, they decided to put an armband with a Mugen David or a yellow star in the back. Without this, you could not. If they catch you even in the ghetto, they catch you mental test. They kill you.

[A]

So you had to wear a yellow band with a Jewish star that you could look. So everybody knew you were Jewish?

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

And a moment that is awkward, but we are taking a break. So I can tell you about my sponsors a little bit about my sponsor Bobby. Because they're such a great company. It is founded by moms and Bobbi supports every feeding journey. Bobi is a formula, but it's a high quality formula. So it kind of gets rid of the worries. Because it was founded by moms and backed by breast milk science and trusted by 600,000 plus parents. I think you can feel good about it. I certainly wish it had been around when I had my babies. I hear time and again in my groups with new moms how stressful feeding is. And with Bobby, you can choose to exclusively breastfeed and have a backup. You can choose to exclusively formula feed. You can feel safe and good about the formula that you're feeding. Your baby. If you want you can combo feed. It's all possible. And you can choose from one of Bobbi's clean label certified modeled after breast milk formulas so they're easy on tiny tummies. So if you are looking for a formula and you want to try Bobbi and you want to support a brand that is just like really backing up every choice every mom makes, Bobby has an exclusive offer just for our GH listeners. First visit www.hibobbi.com and find the recipe that fits your journey and then apply the promo code humans to get an additional 10% off your first purchase. That's H I B O-B-B-I-E.com okay, so back to school chaos. Everybody is well aware of and and truly it's a gift to have back to school chaos. But it's exhausting and schedules and carpools and relearning algebra and it's a lot. And Ollie makes wellness as easy and delightful to put into your routine. You want immune support for your kids? Get the multiplus kids probiotic. If bedtime is a struggle, go to kids sleep for gentle support. And you moms especially need the women's multi. I take it every single day because I don't know, I mean between bone density and vitamin D and B12 and all the things that I know I need to have, I like having a women's multi. So grab all of these [e-mail] or retailers nationwide. Can here's my favorite thing about Ollie is that I like them because they're basically yummy and so I do not like taking vitamins. My kids don't like taking vitamins. They are just unpleasant to take swallow vitamins. But having a few gummy vitamins, it's like a kind of a treat. I really love it. I'm not kidding. I just think it's like what a great way to get a little support and have it taste good and be a little treat to [e-mail] o l l y.com or retailers nationwide. Remember these statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease from the ghetto.

[B]

They start on daily basis to take us to work every day. Some girls went to work to clean where the Germans live. We was working on a highway to make right away for them for the tanks. It was problems in be work to fix up the highway with them in daily basis. How it's going on. It was going on a year more than A year time until 1940. It was in after probably in October or something like this. They decided they going to liquidate small ghettos. If it's not too many Jews in the ghetto. When they liquidate the ghetto it is not to describe it. To tell you that what happened to the kids with the mothers when they walked out. You have to. It was seven o' clock in the morning when they start on a loudspeaker. All the Jews have to come up and stay on the line. You have to leave here from the ghetto. And all of them come out. When they come out for what they did. I cannot believe it. The Jewish people have dogs. A few days before the liquidate the ghetto they killed all the Jewish. You have to bring it out in the street and leave them on the street. And they killed him. I didn't have a dog. My friends. She some ma had a dog.

[A]

Mama Bina had a dog.

[B]

Yeah. And she didn't want to do it right away. She at most got killed killed. Lady. When she brought it up, he should have. When she let him down and he should have. She almost got killed this time. And they arrested her for a whole night. They put them in jail because she didn't brought them. She didn't listen. She didn't brought them right away. It was before the liquidation of the ghetto. When they liquidate the ghetto, they took mothers with little kids. They asked the mother, what do you want them with the kid? And the mother said, what do you want? We don't want to do nothing with the kids. Either you give it up or you go with him. The Muslim mothers went with him and they killed him. They didn't even use bullets. They made graves and put them. And you have to watch it. And they threw them. And in the graves they buried them alive. It's never bent away from my head. I always got a picture what happened. It never goes away. And that's how life was going on. That's when the liquidation and they took us to a camp they called Kruschen Truppen, Evansperz. It was a military place. My whole family went. This time we was lucky. We got my whole family. They took him over there, down there. It was from 40s to 41, 41. Then when they did another liquidation. November. It was in so cold in November. It was just not to describe it. In Sabina was all the time in every camp with me together. You know. That's how in. The mother was. The father passed away before. The mother was. Her mother was Fage. And the father Was Moshe and Sabina was Sabine. Yes, they called us in Polish they call her Schindl Chandler. Yeah, it was nice in everything. And she was unbelievable when you're talking about the young kids. She was picked at the school to give the president of Poland flowers. And she was picked by a Polish teacher, which the teacher liked and everything. In that one, the president went through Yadielinsk, she gave them flowers.

[A]

And that was before everything happened.

[B]

Yeah, that was before. You know, I'm talking about it. I went back, I'm talking about it, about the Polish people, how great that was that the Jewish people, you know, was not ignored because they was good in school every place and they was trying to collaborate with the Poles and everything else. And that's what happened to us when the anti Semitism come. It was just not to describe it. What happened to the Jewish. But when the Germans come in the Poles was just not a difference than the Germans. They worked with the Germans together and they did anything to do harm Jewish people.

[A]

When you went to the work camp where Mama was.

[B]

Yeah, go ahead.

[A]

Were you like. I keep wanting to also ask about your relationship with Mama Bina, while we're talking about these horrible things.

[B]

No, we was just friends.

[A]

You were just friends?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

And you were friends and you were going through this horrible thing. But did you know it was like. How. How did you know how bad it kept getting? Like it kept getting worse and worse.

[B]

You can see is not hard all in front of you. Absolutely, yeah. No matter what. The only thing, what we did, some of them, we fought back, you know, but your pulse, if you were strong and that I never, you know, I was just never giving up my life, you know, I was always standing up against them. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose by fighting. But that's the best thing to do. And not to ignore this, because you could do it. A lot of kids was like me, and that's what we did. We try. When? Before, you know, before the Germans come in and everything else in the school, when it start before Germans come in, they already starting up in this. Before you worked with them, you was playing soccer with them. I got friends. We was driving bikes with them together and everything else. And all of a sudden they turn around like it would be from just cold to hot to just like they wouldn't even know that you should exist for them.

[A]

So you would see friends that you grew up with, and they would see that you were being tortured and hurt.

[B]

You could not believe it. Friends that you play with them and everything else. How can it happen? I said just. You couldn't even talk to them. It was just not to believe it. How antisemitism was growing in a new heart. We didn't did nothing to them. We always did so nice and everything else. And it never helped in that the life was going on.

[A]

And then what happened? Like, how long were you in the work camp before?

[B]

Yeah, I was in the work. And then they liquidate in that. When they liquidate again in Koshin, Topen, Evensprat. Okay, I got my whole family in this. And I said to Sabina, before the liquidate go out from this camp to another one. Before I got a feeling that I was afraid that they gonna kill people. Something happened to my thing instantly.

[A]

Like you just had a feeling that things were gonna be even more horrible.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I said to Sabine, if you can go to Sola. It was a camp that was from planes, but they bombed Russians or something. It was another camp. It was a small camp. And I said, listen to me, get out of here. And I took her away a little bit out from our camp. And she walked back over there to the camp. And I was so happy that she was out on us. When they liquidate our camp, they killed over our camp got 1600 people. When they liquidate, they took my father out, but standing down. And I said, I don't know why it come to me. And I said, take me, I go for this guy. When I said to him, he picked me up by my collar like this, pulled me out, pushed back my father. And it was so cold. In November they pretty close. The end of November, it was pretty close to five o'clock in the evening. And it's starting to get dark and they start to pick people to be killed. When I went for my father, I was the second in line. The first in line was the name was the guy. He was living in the same city and I know him. He was older than me. It was the name of Chaim. And I. And I was the second in line. And later they picked up more than 60 people. And they start walking us to the forest. And by the grave they said, knee down. And when we knee down, he was a minute in this Iran. The SS asked the officer when we start shooting. And he said, when I'm going to take the pistol out, I'm going to show you how to do it. And I said, aboard the Yiddish to the Chaim. Let's fight him before he goes as far as. But he did not understood what I. And he said to me you cannot speak here. And I stopped talking when he went going for the gun. We got up, we started fighting. And it was at the grave. I didn't know this time that the grave was so far. It was more than 3ft, 10ft long by 8ft in width, more than 5ft deep. And all of a sudden, when we start fighting. A piece of ground in the forest. The ground gives the ground soft in it. A piece of ground fell down. And we fell down, all three of us at the grave.

[A]

So it's like a pit.

[B]

We fell down at the grave. Officer. And he start on German. Don't shoot to the dengue. If they would shoot, they would kill him to get him to us. And it come to me. I don't know, it comes to me, run. I went all the way in the grave till the end. I jumped over and it wasn't the forest. I was the whole pretty close. And I went to a guy, a Polish guy, his name was Sonic. He was not living away too far from the forest. I went in the middle of the night to him. He took me to his cousin, put her clothes away. But I would say about 20 miles or more of toboggan, the horse. He was driving the whole. He was the whole night he come to his cousin. He said, please, would you take care of this guy? I know him, I know his family. He was. He was put a cloth a communist before the war. You know, communism. Yeah, he was more leftist than that. He didn't come up. But he was unbelievable. I know I can trust him. And he did it to me. And I was one month every night at the force to go to in the nighttime, to go to sleep in the forest. The guy, the Polish guy gave me some food inside. He know where I was in the forest. And I said to myself, I cannot live or I'm going to die better. And I did. I went back to Sola, where Sabine was in this camp. When I come into the camp, I was afraid to go into the door. Maybe a German is going to be. You know, because it's an air force thing. I pulled up the window, the window come up and I come down. And who it was Sabina start to holler. Look who is alive. Jack is alive. And they know it. That they. You know, that they killed the people. But they didn't know that I survived.

[A]

Oh my God. I didn't know that part of the story.

[B]

Yes, it is unbelievable to tell you that's. What if I am normal, Aliza? Then if something is right with me, that to put to I said to myself, I have to survive to tell what they did to the Jewish people in the ghettos, in the camps, in every place else. It was one and a half million little kids. What they didn't know, it's still a world on this time, but life is about it. You was never a person, but then you was like stripped from a person to be. You was just didn't know daily basis. You didn't even care to live or you die when you was in the camp. It is not to describe it. You know that people, what they run away to the forest and they survive or the other people, what they saw it, what happened, what they did to the Jews in the ghettos and in the camps, in the little babies, it never can go away from you. No matter what you want to do, stays with you your whole life.

[A]

And now we have to take a little break. You know, I love Kiwico because in this world of just so much tech, like every time you feel like your kids are bored but you're tired, you kind of turn to technology, which I totally understand. And the free play you feel too tired to monitor and to support sometimes all makes sense to me. And I love that Kiwico has solved that problem because they basically just send you a monthly subscription, whichever subscription works for you. And it covers everything from science, engineering, art and world discovery. Kiwico engages kids in hands on activities that they will love. But more importantly, they provide everything that you could possibly need to do the activities in the crate that you get. And so you can know that they're developing critical thinking skills, prompt problem solving skills and creativity and having fun and you can just feel like you didn't have to work that hard. Now what I also love is that if you have an awareness of what your child is interested in. Like I knew that I had one child who wanted to build and one child who wanted to do art and so I could personalize it and it was so awesome. And they got to enjoy something that they love. Tinker, create and innovate with Kiwico. Get up to 50 off your first crate at kiwico.com promo code RGH. That's up to 50 off your first crate@K-I-W-I c o.com promo code RGH. All right, so one of the things that is really hard to do, but there is a really good solution is hiring. Hiring people, like finding somebody amazing is time consuming. Waiting for the right candidates to apply is time consuming. Sorting through a gazillion resumes time consuming trying to get in touch with potential candidates. I mean, it is absolutely endless. But the future of hiring is much brighter because ZipRecruiter has a new tool and helps speed up the process of finding the right people for the roles that you're looking for so that you save valuable time and you get connected with somebody that you really want. And now you can try ZipRecruiter for free at Z I P R E C R U I t e r.com humans with ZipRecruiter's new advances, you can easily find and connect with qualified candidates in minutes. Minutes. I mean, it's so time saving. You can see candidates you're actually interested in unlock their contact info instantly. There are over 320,000 new resumes added to ZipRecruiter Monthly, which could sound overwhelming except for that the way their system works, you get through it so quickly. You can know that four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get quality candidates within the first day. And if you go to ZipRecruiter.com humans right now, you can try it for free. That's ZipRecruiter.com/humans. ZipRecruiter. The smartest way to hire. I remember asking you what you were thinking about because you were just staring down because, you know you do that sometimes, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Like you just are thinking. And I asked you what you were thinking about and you said, I never will want to know what's going on in your head?

[B]

All right. Yeah. It is unjust, believable. Sometime in the nighttime you got dreams. I was. When I got. When I survived and I got married in the nighttime, I start getting crazy. I hit sometime Sabina and she said, are you crazy? What happened to you? And I said, no, I was fighting with the Germans.

[A]

Just in your nightmare and.

[B]

Yeah, nightmare, yeah. And later she said, why don't you go, you know, to a doctor? And I went to a doctor. And he said, there's nothing I can do for you. It's never going away from. No matter what, I'm going to give you pills and this. It's never going to help you. Yeah. And that's what how life was going on.

[A]

I want to go back and then I want to talk more about after. But when you told when you saw Mama Bina, I call her Mama Bina for everybody else. We saw Bina and she was like, look who's alive. And you're still. She still hasn't gone to Auschwitz. You still have a long way to Go to survive. When you saw her, what did you have to go?

[B]

Good night, Tona. When I saw her, I took her around, I hugged her in this. And we was daily basis. We were friends, you know, in all accounts, in death, sort of this. It was unbelievable, you know, it was already in the 42, 1942. Already pretty close. You're not like this. And we hear that they going to liquidate this camp too. When they starting to talk about another liquidation, I said to Sabine, you have to watch out. Because sometimes the liquidation could be killed. And I was thinking to run away this time. And later I said to myself, never in life I can survive if you don't have help. You're going into the forest and you cannot have help. You cannot survive. And we were lading and it happened. It did happen. When they said, we're going to liquidate this. We're going to take you by trucks. We come and amid the trucks, in the nighttime sometime. And it was 700 people in this camp. And they took us to an ammunition plant in Pionki. And Sabine met us and everything else in her mother was this time. But I lost already in. I tell you, my mother was taking from Koshin. She was not. My father was killed the next day in Koshin. My mother was taken to a ghetto Sheldloviev. A big ghetto. But they come in when they liquidate other ghettos that took him over there to take him away. Or to Blinken, or to Majdanek, or to Auschwitz.

[A]

How did you know? Like, how did you know? How did you know at the time where anybody went this time in the timing?

[B]

We don't know nothing.

[A]

You just found out after.

[B]

We didn't. We know it was on Auschwitz. Yeah, we know in 41 already. Yeah. That the ostriches exist. But the other camp, Majdanek, Treblanco. We didn't know this. We didn't know.

[A]

And Treblinko is where all the little babies and children went.

[B]

It is unbelievable what they did. A million and a half little kids. And they've been buried in Poland away with mothers together. And not counting the mothers. We talking about it just kids. A million and a half. And the rest of them was growing up what they killed. It is not one place in Poland, in not one city. It shouldn't be graves from Jews to be killed daily basis.

[A]

So by then was your dad, your mom. Your mom was taken away, your sister?

[B]

When mom went, my sister met my brother. And they took him to a Shadlovyc in. My cousin was from My uncle's side, from my father's brother that was calling. He was a fiance to him, you know. And they went away from Shadloviev in coming to Sola. When they come to Sola. And they told me, you, brother, when he come in, somebody holler, you know, healers alive. He come to walk from the ghetto. And I took him around and I said, what happened to mom? She didn't want to go. He should make it to go. I got a little bit mad on him. And that's what happened to my life when I saw him. When he come into Solar. That's what happened when the liquidation of Solar. When they took us a pionki. They took us a pionki. They put us in the middle of the night. We arrived late in the nighttime. They took us to the bath. No thinks you have notes where to sleep. He was laying on the floor. When I lay on the floor. All of a sudden something. I hear somebody come. And I picked up my head. Somebody hit me in the left side of my head. The next morning I was afraid. Everybody asked me, your head is so swollen. And I said, it is from Ukraine people. But they worked with the Germans together. And they both like the ss. They come around, they thought I got something laying or something that can take it away or something. And I picked up my head. That's what he hit me with his gun. And that's what I got the first night when I arrived in Pionki in the ammunition plant. And the next day they put me in a place to work daily basis by unloading coal from train. They come in with the train every morning, seven o' clock till six o' clock in the night. You have to stay in a Lord call that was from the middle of 42. Starting to work daily basis. And I saw Sabine daily basis. She was working not far away from me. She was working ammunition things to bring to the people where they worked. And she worked so hard in this place, it was unbelievable. But I saw her every day. And that's how life was going on in the 42s.

[A]

And when you saw her every day, was she still just a friend or did you feel feelings?

[B]

Just. Just friend. Just friends. Okay. That's all it was. But I mean, really good friends all the time, you know?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I give all the time a kiss or something on the lips or just the cheeks. On the lip. Yes.

[A]

That's not a friend.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. That's what I. That's what that. And yeah.

[A]

Did she.

[B]

Sometime I. I went in sometime. It Was if the timing was in the place where we got the barracks to sleep. Sometimes we are not allowed to go. You know, women in the camps was women separate, the men separate in the year. Sometime I walked by her barrack where she was over there. It was not all the time, because all the time, or she was working or I was working.

[A]

He just walked by and said hi.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, to see her. And sometime, you know, in sometime, if we got time, the railroad was over there and I was by Borg when I saw her. And I said, you want to walk a little bit on Padre Lutia? And she come out and we was talking about it. What happened? They took her mother out and they killed her. And she lost her because they took out people. All of a sudden the SS come and take out people. Before it was a Jewish holiday or something. And when she would be smart, I didn't sell her. I said, you shouldn't let your mom go. You should put her away sometime in the back, let she sit in there. But it happened.

[A]

Did they do it in front of her?

[B]

They didn't did in front of her, but she walked her. Because they took her away outside from the camp that was in Pionki. And they took her on the field. They took this time about 200 people or 300. And they brought back the clothes and they brought back her mom's holders. And we was talking about. She started to cry and I was feeling so bad. It's nothing anymore. Nobody can do it. That's. I said, that's life. Or you want to live, or you. That's all what you can do it is to work. And that's all what happened in life. And that's how we always was talking about it. But before what happened after this, we didn't know what's going to happen for the rest of the life. But I said one time. What. I got a feeling if something should happen to the camp in Pionki, I want to run away to the forest. And she said, how can I do it? I got curly hair. You can see me in everything. I said, what are you worried? The Poles? No matter what, you're going to be in the forest. No, I'm going to have to work. I'm going to have to go out and get some food or something like that. And they're going to recognize me right away. I can. I don't want to go. She never wants to go to the forest. Before I went away to the forest from Pionki when they liquidate and I took 15 people at our forest. And my brother was with me and my cousins too. And I asked her, she said, I cannot do it. I kissed her and I said goodbye. And I said to her, if you survive, be sure come back to the city where he was born, Poland. If I survived, I'd be there. And I'm going to wait for you. And that's how at first, when we walked away from each other and when I went through and I cut the wires out. It was in 1944, in the beginning of April or something. They already got in. The farmers didn't still cut, you know, the corns and this, that if you know that you can hide in it. Because that was a good thing. If something happened, if Germans you see or something, you can run in and hide by the forest. And that's how life, you know, what I did to my life. My trouble was when I lost my brother, when I lost my brother, I really did not want to live anymore. What happened to me? It was when I was in the forest. I went into our farmer. I went over to our farmer at the barn. He got the cows, he got the horses. In the beginning, when I opened up, I didn't know it was a dog over there. And the dog barked. One bark and I put my hands out and he stopped barking. I was not afraid to put my hands in. In it that he is going to. Maybe he can bite me or something. I was not afraid. I would just hold it like that. He stopped, you know, And I said nothing. You couldn't hear nothing from the dog anymore. That he should give a signal to the farmer that a stranger is here. And the bomb, I went on the top and I laid down four to five days. Nothing in my life. I didn't eat nothing, no drinks. I couldn't even think that I'm alive.

[A]

And this is after your brother was killed?

[B]

Yeah, it was pretty close to delicate, to 45, to the end of it. Five weeks before the origins come in. And that's what I did. And I lay down and all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, something come to me and said, get out of here. It was the middle of the night. And I said I was afraid to go down. I'm going down. And I couldn't get even up, you know, to slide down from the top of the barn. Every day he come in to take some food to give to the horses. I was afraid he's going to stop me, you know, to take down. It is like I forgot what they call it to bring down stored or something.

[A]

Yeah. Like a rake.

[B]

Yeah. You know, it is like he picked it up. If I would lay there when he did it, he would stab me or do something.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I rolled it slowly away. I hear when he is going to do it. I slowly rolled it in the other side. Which he never. He never. At least he never come up to see or something. In the fifth day when it start to come to me, get out in the middle of the night, I slide down and I was afraid the dog is going to start barking. Which dog wouldn't bark? Yeah, you know everything when I went down and I didn't. No name, no nothing. And I said, here, my hands. I pulled out and I hold my hands like this. The door didn't open up and I could. Nobody would believe it in my life. What I saw that it is unbelievable to believe that like somebody would stay behind me and guide me into doing what I need to do it. In the middle of the night, I went down, I opened up slowly. The bomb. I was afraid that the farmer shouldn't hear come out with a shotgun or something. So. And I walked back, put it close. It was put close to a few miles to go back to the forest. I went back to the forest and I was liberated after this five weeks later at the forest.

[A]

And you were 21.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Now I do have to take a break. So awkward but changing gears. I'm going to tell you about Great Wolf Lodge because there's an adventure for the whole family and it's a really good way to go somewhere, have a blast, not have to think about anything, get everybody exhausted and bond all with some possible Great Wolf Lodge within a couple of hours from you. No doubt because they have 23 lodges across the country so you and your pack can splash away. They have an indoor water park. It's always 84 degrees. There is a massive wave pool, a lazy river and tons of water slides for your pack to enjoy together. And the fun does not stop there. They have an adventure packed live action game that takes place throughout the lodge to the Northern Lights Arcade. There's also a bunch of great dining options and complimentary daily events like nightly dance parties. All of this happens under one roof. All of this happens without any thinking on your part. And so you can just bring your pack together and book a [e-mail] and strengthen the pack and you're going to end up so tired at the end of the day and you'll put the kids to bed in those bunk rooms and just chill out after nighttime dance parties and yoga and get up in the morning to start a new fun adventure. G R E A T w o l f.com check out great wolf lodge.com responsibility.org has a campaign called Ask, Listen and Learn and it is about underage drinking prevention programs. Because responsibility.org is a leading resource for parents, educators and kids in grades four through eight, which sounds young, but it's actually really important to get information early early so that kids can make better decisions and aren't making decisions in real time based on things they've never even talked about with you. Mental health matters too. So the new materials in Ask Lesson Learns campaign address how underage drinking and underage cannabis use affect tween mental health and how parents can work with their kids on identifying mental health struggles and ways to appropriately cope with stress and anxiety without turning towards substance use. Resources are digital, they are free and they are available at asklisten learn.org Parents can feel like they're not the number one influence on their kids decisions, but they really are a huge influence on their kids decisions and having those conversations early, making sure that they don't happen in a lecture form, but really just in moments that make sense. Modeling responsible ways to handle stress and anxiety. These are all ways to help Ask, Listen and Learn is the most widely distributed program of its kind, so visit asklistenlearn.org mental health to view the materials today. Start a conversation with your kids to further empower them to say yes to healthy lifestyles and no to underage drinking and underage cannabis use. So a break to tell you also about Live Consciousness, which has a mission to create simple, effective wellness solutions that elevate your everyday life one conscious choice at a time. And very specifically I'm telling you about their Hair Levy Clinical product. It's basically if you're tired of thinning hair or hair loss and you're feeling like your confidence is being impacted, you can kind of say goodbye to all the shedding and get Hair Levy Clinical by Live Conscious. They've sold over a million bottles of Hair La Vie Clinical, all highly appreciated with lots of good reviews and you get a 365 day money back guarantee. So if you don't like it, there's no stress, there's no hassle, there's just better hair. Visit liveconscious.com L I V E C O N S C I o u s.com liveconscious.com today and make the switch to a hair vitamin that works. You can use the code Humans at Checkout again. It's live conscious. Conscious is just one of those words I need to spell many times. L I V E C O N S C I O U S dot com. How did you find out you were liberated?

[B]

You could hear the Russian tanks coming by, you know, in the sea and death. But we let down the tanks. I said, let's not do it. We were. Six people survived. When the things go by after this was the military. A few of. Not too many. We took a little white finisher and picked up our hands and they picked us up and they said, who are you guys? They said, you're not. We said, we're Jewish people. We were hiding in the forest. Some of them said, that's not Jewish. I said, let's take us to an office in the. You know, where you got an officer. We're going to. They took us and they said they are Jews. And they took me back to my city where I was born, to Jetlinsk. It was pretty close to 4 hour, 2 hour drive or something in the forest where I was. And they took us by Metatrock. They took all of us over there. When I went into my house and I got problems. She knew me. I grew up with the kids. She was a teacher in school.

[A]

And that's who was living in your house?

[B]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I said, well, I don't want nothing. I want to just give me some photographs. What Bill left, that's all what I wanted.

[A]

Because you had nobody left in your family?

[B]

Yeah, I didn't have. For my two sisters and for my mom. And I asked if there should be a lot. He said the Germans took it. I said, no, Germans come in to gentile people. You know it. Why are you telling me no? You know my family. And I said to her and that. And she. And she said to me, if you're not going to live, you could be killed here. They're going to kill. They don't like Jews in the moor in Poland. And I said, that's all what you can tell me. I said to her, I grew up with two kids and that's what you're telling me? That I couldn't believe it. I said in my life that I could hear this, that I survived. And that's what you can tell me, to leave Poland. That's all what I didn't want to even. I went out from the house and I was with the Russians in one side. We was in one side. We live because they at least protect us, you know, that's how life was in the first day in 1945, in January, that I was liberated.

[A]

And during that time, when you went into the forest for the last time, what was happening to Mama Bina?

[B]

Mama Bina, she was gone from. They picked her up. She went to Auschwitz. She went to Bergen Belsen. She went to all things. She was liberated after this. When I was liberated, I thought that a few Jews are going to be liberated. We didn't know that it's going to be when in the end of April, when the war was over. It was the liberation was everybody try to come back the Polish people to Poland. They didn't know what Poland is. But everybody wants to go back. How they brought up in Poland. They wanted to go back in that. When I was with the Russians away, I couldn't stay in Yazzlensk. I went with the Russians. I went. They took away. It was already. It was German side. But the Russians give it to the Poles. It was in Opel in Poland. And I brought with the Russians in a guy know that I worked with. I am with the Russians. He come to me and he said, you know, you got some people survived from your city. And you know who survived Sabina. And I said, you are a liar. You're just telling me our story. And he picked up his. Said to God, you swear to me in high was unbelievable. I didn't know in the beginning. I was shocked what to do. And it was pretty close. I have to take the train from German side to go back to our city. It was not a straight train. You have to transfer from one train to the next. I went and I went to the Russian officer and I said, I hear that some more people survived. Would you do me a favor? Give me a letter that I work with the Russians. And he did. Nobody should, you know, from the Russian people should know to keep you safe. Yes.

[A]

Were you. Were you nourished by then? Like did you had. You gained weight at Eton?

[B]

Okay, yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, after this in Poland, I already was, you know, my own. And I know how to do the Polish people, you know, later in the backyard or something. You went in, you could get bread or something. But when I was with the Russians, they was lunch and dinners and there's everything, you know.

[A]

So you're ready to go to find.

[B]

Yeah. And then when I went back and I saw Sabina, it was a shock to me. And I went. Something was not right. What I did, I didn't kiss her. And she said to me, what happened to you? You don't even give me a Kiss. But I was not smart. I said smart. You know something? She never forget it. I know since she passed away all the time criticized me and told my kids this.

[A]

This I know.

[B]

Just unbelievable life. What kind of life? I. I wish everybody would have a life like I did with Sabina. And she was unbelievable. If not for her, probably I wouldn't survive anymore. If she wouldn't survive, it would never be a family. What I got, what I brought up with my wife, a family at least seven grandkids in ten. Now we got eleven great grandkids.

[A]

Oh yeah. Since yesterday. Congratulations.

[B]

Eleven grandkids. It's Amber. What? I wouldn't never dream in my life to have a family like this. And I'm so grateful in my life. Anytime. If I go and speak to kids and I tell them what I got with my wife. Every time the people. We never saw a couple like this. She never went away from you a minute in your side and you didn't left a minute alone. It was just not to believe it.

[A]

When you were in the forest and like before you got back to Sabina.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Did you think, like, why did you live? Did you have anything you thought about to keep you going? Or were you just like living in the moment to try to survive?

[B]

That's all, just try to survive? Didn't know why I was trying to survive. I thought that I was. I didn't think about it. I'm going to have a good life or something. I would not.

[A]

You weren't thinking about your future?

[B]

No. Nothing at all? Nothing at all. When I was in the minute, when I didn't even talk. I don't have nobody. I was praying. Maybe my mom, maybe. Maybe she survived me, the two daughters or something, that I'm going to see them or something. And I give. When I was. When I survived in Poland, I went on the radio and I was given on the radio. Think that I survived in anybody from this city? From Jedlinsk. In the name, everything. When I give the name from Sabina. In everybody. When Sabina come, I hear one time that you are alive. But I didn't believe it either. Even it was on the radio. Something like that.

[A]

Okay, so when you saw Mama Beena and you didn't kiss her, and then she was annoyed. Then how did you go from that to. Did you ask her on a date? Did you just take her hand and stay with her forever?

[B]

What happened? That's what I. It was two months later. I said to her, sabina, you forgive me or not?

[A]

She was mad at you.

[B]

For two months more than death.

[A]

Stop it.

[B]

Yes. Yes. Yeah. And I said, come on. And we start going out on dates. I tried to go out in some places they got just for wine and vodka to sell and everything else. And I knew the people. It was by Polish people. And I said, you want to go get a drink or something? But we never was. I never was a drunk in the. You know, in the beginning, in this. When I saw death was my life. When I. You know, to keep up, to go out with the daily basis. We went every day from Yedlinsk is a big city. Radom. 12 kilometers. Which I took every day. The mostly time when we walked a few days before I went away from Poland. We took away from Poland every day I took it. And going out in places where they got beautiful bakery, eat beautiful. It was like before the war, you know, because I was working over there sometime and everything else. And she was so happy.

[A]

Did she make you laugh? Could she make you laugh even though you were so.

[B]

Sometimes she said to me, why don't you give it up? Why are you so. And I told her, let me ask you something. How can you do it when we survive? We come in to Germany, to Regensburg. We saw people dancing. And I got my uncle. I brought her from Poland in Sabina. And somebody else was with me too. Another guy. And we come in. We was in the community. We didn't get where to go to sleep. And it was so nice. It was unbelievable.

[A]

So you saw people dancing and did she want to dance?

[B]

Yeah. We were so happy in Vienna when I got into Regensburg and I said, these people are crazy. They dancing. She looked at me, she said, I don't know what to answer you. What do you want them to do? Yeah, that's what she said. You have to give it up. What you think it is unbelievable in life. I didn't care. I was happy that I solo her. And I thought, I'm going to have a better life. And that's what I did.

[A]

And that's what you did.

[B]

That's what happened to my life. And that's what I'm right now here. And you know it. And I'm so happy. What kind of life that I got with her. It is just not to describe it.

[A]

I love you so much. I don't know how you've lived like this.

[B]

I love you so much. I love so much my kids. In everything in. I hope we should never forget it.

[A]

Papa Jack.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Do you like. Do you think there was a reason that you and Mama Bina survived.

[B]

Did I think it's a reason. Yes, I think it's a reason. It is so much daily basis what we saw and we survived. It was amazing. From God, we survived. I tell you, it is just unbelievable. What. When she said to me one time, I have to forgot to tell you, I'm not going to have what's used to get married. I'm not going to have no kids. Mama.

[A]

Bina said that?

[B]

Yeah, she said, we're going to get married. I'm not going to have no kids. And I said, why? You know, I was Auschwitz. And they gave me to drink, to think. And I was. I said, like they gave her something.

[A]

To make it so she couldn't have pill.

[B]

Yeah. And I said, don't worry about it in my answer, if you would see it. And I said, why did you want to have kids? It's going to be 50 or 80 years later they going to go against the Jewish people. And this first what they doing is to kill the kids. That's what going to happen.

[A]

So you didn't want kids?

[B]

I did. I wanted kids. And I tried to say to her, what do you worry about the kids to give again for killing. That's what you like it said. Why would you say this? That's what said. I predicted that there's going to be another holocaust in my life. And that's what I'm afraid.

[A]

And that's why you tell the story?

[B]

Yes, that's why I tell the story, that we should never let it happen again. Death is my life. That's why I survived. And I'm so happy what you are doing right now that you're going to have it and that. And it's so good to be. Not to be forgotten. Not to be. Should never forget what they did to 6 million Jewish people.

[A]

I promise I will never let anybody forget.

[B]

I know it. I know. And thank you so much, my love.

[A]

I love you.

[B]

I appreciate. I love you. I love you.

[A]

Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.