David Perlmutter (M / Poland, 1937), Holocaust survivor

David Perlmutter (M / Poland, 1937), Holocaust survivor.

• KEYNOTES : <Poland> <Lodz Ghetto> <Buchenwald> <Liberation of Buchenwald> -- <France> <OSE Orphanage>

• MEMOIRS : Une enfance à nulle autre pareille (2019)

Biography

• [wiki.en] -- wiki.it

David (Dawid) Perlmutter was born on 8 April 1937 in Lodz, POland. He grew up in the Lodz Ghetto. Deported to Buchenwald.

Liberation of Buchenwald

David was one the youngest child Holocaust survivors at Buchenwald:

• USHMM Collections -- Escorted by American soldiers, a transport of child survivors of Buchenwald file out of the main gate of the camp (17 April 1945). Among the children pictured are Izio Rosenman (head of column), Jacques Finkel, Charles Finkel, Fredek Margolis, Lalek Russ, Salek Sandowski, George Goldbloom and ? Zylber. Misho Frailich, Willi Fogel, A. Grossman, Lotci Miller, Laiza Grynberg, Usha Grynberg, David Perlmutter, Marek Lodzinsky, Yankel Kapelush, Yosel Dziubak, Loyosh Hershkovitz, ? Yakubovitz, Reuven Wekselman, Stanley Weinstein, Herschek Zeit, Henryk Kolber, Jacques Werber and Philip Kaner. Mor Stern is the boy in the beret and white coat, with right arm hanging down straight just right of the two American soldiers.

• USHMM Collections -- Among those pictured are first row (left to right): Lolek Blum, David Perlmutter, Birenbaum, Joseph Schleifstein, unidentified, and Yisrael Meir Lau (middle row, far right). Middle row: Nathan Szwarc, Jack Neeman, Berek Silber, Jakub Finkelstajn (Jacques Finkel), unidentified, Marek Milstein, and Salek Finkelstein. Back row: Elek Grinbaum [or Grinberg], Chaim Finkelstajn (Charles Finkel), Romek Wajsman (Wekselman), and Abe Chapnick. The boys are dressed in outfits made from German uniforms due to a clothing shortage.

The OSE Orphanage in France

David was among the 427 children brought to France from Buchenwald.

At the OSE orphanage in France, David formed a strong bound with Yisrael Meir Lau and Izio Rosenman:

• (a) USHMM Collection -- Pictured from left to right are Yisrael Meir Lau, Izio Rosenman, and David Perlmutter (OSE Orphanage, June 1945)

• (b) USHMM Collection -- Pictured from left to right are Izio Rosenman, David Perlmutter, and Yisrael Meir Lau (OSE Orphanage, June 1945)

{Picture. -- Representatives of the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants) pose with David Perelmutter and Yisrael Meir (Lulek) Lau.}

David would remain in France all his life.

Book : Une enfance à nulle autre pareille (2019)

"As early as 1994, the late Jorge Semprun wrote in his book THE WRITING OR THE LIFE that one day, relatively close, there will be no survivors of Buchenwald to say and tell in a direct way, this what was survival in a Nazi concentration camp. Today, almost 25 years later, this book is one of the last testimonies, if not perhaps the last, to bring together personal memories as well as facts told by reliable adults, of a Jewish child who survived years in the ghetto, then a labor camp, finally, a concentration camp, and who was released at just 8 years old."

"Dès 1994, le regretté Jorge Semprun écrivait dans son livre L'ECRITURE OU LA VIE qu'un jour, relativement proche, il n'y aura plus aucun survivant de Buchenwald pour dire et raconter d'une manière directe, ce qu'a été la survie dans un camp de concentration nazi. Aujourd'hui, presque 25 ans après, ce livre est un des derniers témoignages, sinon peut-être le dernier, à rassembler des souvenirs personnels ainsi que des faits racontés par des adultes dignes de foi, d'un enfant juif qui a survécu à des années de ghetto, puis d'un camp de travail, enfin, d'un camp de concentration, et qui a été libéré à tout juste 8 ans."

OSE Orphanage List

• #275 David Perelmutter, Poland, 1937.