Samuel Harris / Szlamalek Rzeznik (M / Poland, 1935), Holocaust survivor
Samuel Harris / Szlamalek Rzeznik (M / Poland, 1935), Holocaust survivor.
- KEYWORDS : <Poland> <Deblin Ghetto> <Czestochowa Ghetto> -- <Lublin Orphanage>
- MEMOIRS : Sammy (1999)
Biography
NOTES : Samuel Harris was born Szlamalek Rzeznik in May 1935 in Deblin, Poland. He survived the Deblin and Czestochowa Ghettos. Since Sammy was too young to work he hid from the guards, hiding in the darkness of the barracks. After living in an orphanage in Lublin, Poland and then Vienna, Austria, Sammy made his way to the United States in 1947 and lived in a foster home in Chicago. On April 10, 1948, through the Jewish Children’s Bureau, Sammy was adopted by the Harris.
Book : Sammy (1999)
- Samuel Harris, Sammy: A Child Survivor of the Holocaust (Mesa, AZ: Blue Bird, 1999).
“In sharing your personal testimony as survivor of the Holocaust you have granted future generations the opportunity to experience a personal connection with history. Thanks you for your invaluable contribution, your strength and your generosity of Spirit” –Steven Spielberg, Director of Shindler’s List.
“Sammy Child Survivor of the Holocaust is the remarkable story of a child who was saved because of the persistence of his sister and the cooperation of so many who wanted to enable at least one child to defeat the German plan to destroy all the Jews. What gives the story its remarkable poignancy is that the child’s voice has been preserved, the innocence of his perceptions, the simplicity of his emotions and the acuteness of his sense of danger. Sammy did know pretend to know more than he knew or see history in all its complexity; rather the child is our guide to a world than even the most sophisticated of adults could not understand. The book is both haunting and humbling.” _ Michael Berenbaum, has previously served as president and as director of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust and project director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is the author and editor of two books, including: The world Must Know: The History of the Holocaust as Told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.