Arek Hersh
Encyclopedia
Arek Hersh MBE
is a survivor of the Holocaust.
He was born in Sieradz
Poland
and was taken to his first concentration camp when he was only eleven years old. The camp started out with 2,500 men, eighteen months later only 11 were alive. Arek moved around several camps before being taken to Auschwitz. Apparently, even as a young boy at the time, Arek figured that if you were placed in a group with sick, young or old people, you were going to be killed as you were of no use to the Nazis. So, before entering the camp, where Jews were lined up in queues of fitter people and weaker people, Arek bravely crossed to the fitter queue, while a commotion happened near the rear of the line (SS officers tried to take a child from its mother), and in doing so, saved his own life. As the war came to a close and Germany was surrounded by the Allies, Arek and the rest of the Jews at Auschwitz were transported away across the country. He was eventually liberated at Theresienstadt ( Terezin, Czechoslovakia
) on the 8th May 1945 by the Russian Army. There were 5,000 Jews in his town but only 40 of them came out alive.
The night before he was liberated, him and a few survivors found an empty German warehouse and from it took, as much food as they wanted, they ate so much their stomachs hurt due to the lack of rich fatty foods for so long, and Arek had his first taste of chocolate in five years!
The Russian Soldiers let all of the surviving Jews do what ever they wanted with the Germans and Arek took the captain's food to show him how it felt to starve.
In 1948 Arek volunteered to fight in the Israeli Defence Forces "to contribute towards the war of independence".
Arek currently lives near Leeds, UK. He has written a book on his experiences called A Detail of History.
All the proceeds go to the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre, where he often gives presentations upon his experience.
Arek Hersh was the subject of an Award winning Documentary "AREK" (2005) Produced by UNISON and Directed by Tony Lloyd http://www.arekmovie.com/ http://www.arekmovie.com/
Arek Hersh was awarded an MBE
in 2009 For voluntary service to Holocaust education.
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
is a survivor of the Holocaust.
He was born in Sieradz
Sieradz
Sieradz is a town on the Warta river in central Poland with 44,326 inhabitants . It is situated in the Łódź Voivodship , but was previously the eponymous capital of the Sieradz Voivodship , and historically one of the minor duchies in Greater Poland.It is one of the oldest towns in Poland,...
Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and was taken to his first concentration camp when he was only eleven years old. The camp started out with 2,500 men, eighteen months later only 11 were alive. Arek moved around several camps before being taken to Auschwitz. Apparently, even as a young boy at the time, Arek figured that if you were placed in a group with sick, young or old people, you were going to be killed as you were of no use to the Nazis. So, before entering the camp, where Jews were lined up in queues of fitter people and weaker people, Arek bravely crossed to the fitter queue, while a commotion happened near the rear of the line (SS officers tried to take a child from its mother), and in doing so, saved his own life. As the war came to a close and Germany was surrounded by the Allies, Arek and the rest of the Jews at Auschwitz were transported away across the country. He was eventually liberated at Theresienstadt ( Terezin, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
) on the 8th May 1945 by the Russian Army. There were 5,000 Jews in his town but only 40 of them came out alive.
The night before he was liberated, him and a few survivors found an empty German warehouse and from it took, as much food as they wanted, they ate so much their stomachs hurt due to the lack of rich fatty foods for so long, and Arek had his first taste of chocolate in five years!
The Russian Soldiers let all of the surviving Jews do what ever they wanted with the Germans and Arek took the captain's food to show him how it felt to starve.
In 1948 Arek volunteered to fight in the Israeli Defence Forces "to contribute towards the war of independence".
Arek currently lives near Leeds, UK. He has written a book on his experiences called A Detail of History.
All the proceeds go to the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre, where he often gives presentations upon his experience.
See also
- Miklos KanitzMiklos KanitzMiklos Samual Kanitz was a Hungarian-Canadian Holocaust survivor living in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He narrowly escaped being transported to the German death camp at Auschwitz in June 1944 at the age of six, because a neighbor, whose son was a member of the Hungarian fascist Arrow Cross Party,...
Arek Hersh was the subject of an Award winning Documentary "AREK" (2005) Produced by UNISON and Directed by Tony Lloyd http://www.arekmovie.com/ http://www.arekmovie.com/
Arek Hersh was awarded an MBE
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
in 2009 For voluntary service to Holocaust education.