21 min
Episode 3: Michael Bornstein The Last Generation
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- Society & Culture
For most of us, our first 4 years of life are built with happy memories. For Michael those memories are summarized in a picture with striped pajamas outside of Auschwitz.
Michael and his three young grandchildren (Allie, JT & Jack) talked about how education was vital for his family even more after the war. Michael started talking about the Holocaust to remind us that is still happening today to all kind of minorities around the world.
Only 52 children under 8 years of age survived Auschwitz. Michael was one of them, he was only 4 years old when he was taken to the camp. He spent most of the time there, hiding in the women’s room, where his mom and grandmother protected him.
Sadly his father and brother died in the Nazi gas chambers.
After living for several years in displaced camps, Michael moved to NY at the age of 10.
It wasn’t easy as he lived paycheck to paycheck, working for 25 cents an hour to help his mom in any way he could; after so much hardship he received a Ph.D. and worked for companies such as J&J.
Michael feels lucky that his mother was always looking forward to the future with optimism and emphasized how important education was.
He says that if he ever found himself face-to-face with a nazi he would like him to know that evil didn’t win. The best revenge would be to let him know he lived a life full of happiness.
For most of us, our first 4 years of life are built with happy memories. For Michael those memories are summarized in a picture with striped pajamas outside of Auschwitz.
Michael and his three young grandchildren (Allie, JT & Jack) talked about how education was vital for his family even more after the war. Michael started talking about the Holocaust to remind us that is still happening today to all kind of minorities around the world.
Only 52 children under 8 years of age survived Auschwitz. Michael was one of them, he was only 4 years old when he was taken to the camp. He spent most of the time there, hiding in the women’s room, where his mom and grandmother protected him.
Sadly his father and brother died in the Nazi gas chambers.
After living for several years in displaced camps, Michael moved to NY at the age of 10.
It wasn’t easy as he lived paycheck to paycheck, working for 25 cents an hour to help his mom in any way he could; after so much hardship he received a Ph.D. and worked for companies such as J&J.
Michael feels lucky that his mother was always looking forward to the future with optimism and emphasized how important education was.
He says that if he ever found himself face-to-face with a nazi he would like him to know that evil didn’t win. The best revenge would be to let him know he lived a life full of happiness.
21 min