Tomy Shacham

Tomy Shacham (M / Slovakia, 1933), Holocaust survivor.

• <Auschwitz> <Liberation of Auschwitz> -- <Israel>

Biography

Tomy Shacham (formerly Schwarz), was born in Nitra, Slovakia on 1 July 1933. His parents were Henrich and Alzbeta Schwarz, and he had two siblings. In 1941, the family tried to cross the border into Hungary, but were unsuccessful. In October 1944, they were taken to the Sered camp in Slovakia, and from there they were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau on 2 November 1944. Tommy’s brother Juraj managed to escape to Hungary, but perished later on in the Budapest ghetto. The rest of the family were together in the “Family Camp” in Birkenau, but after two days, the men and the boys over age ten were separated from the women and children. At that time Tomy was eleven, but was told by his parents to say he was nine and a half. In this way, Tomy was able to spend two more days with his mother, after which she was also taken away from him, and he was left alone in the Children’s Block. On 22 January 1945, the Germans sent all the children who had survived on a march from Birkenau to an unknown destination. During the march, the Germans took flight, and the children continued alone until they arrived at Auschwitz, where they stayed until the liberation.

Tomy was liberated by the Red Army on 27 January 1945.

In March 1945, he emigrated to Eretz Israel, where he grew up to become a teacher. Today Tomy lives in Herzliyya, a father of 3 and a grandfather of 4.