Zvi Unger

Zvi Unger (M / Poland, 1929), Holocaust survivor.

• <Auschwitz> <Death March> <Buchenwald> <Liberation of Buchenwald> -- <France> <OSE Orphanage> -- <Israel>

Biography

Zvi Unger was born in 1929 in Sosnowiec, Poland to a large, well-educated Orthodox family. On September 1, 1939, the family fled, seeking safety in another district in Poland. Unger and two of his brothers were sent in 1941 to stay with relatives. In August 1943, their ghetto was liquidated. They tried to hide in an attic, but were discovered a few days later. In September 1943, Unger was sent to Birkenau. When he got off the train, an inmate whispered to him that he should say he was 18. Thus he survived the selection, and later many others by hiding under benches in the work camp. In January 1945, Unger was sent on a death march to Germany. After 10 days, the inmates were put on a train for Buchenwald. In April 1945, he was liberated,the lone survivor of his family. Unger was moved to a children's home near Paris. In 1947, he joined the Zionist Poalei Tzion movement in the South of France to prepare for his immigration to Israel in 1948. He joined the youth group at Kibbutz Ramat Hakovesh and fought with them in the War of Independence. In 1949, he was among the founders of Kibbutz Malkiya on the Lebanese border, where he still makes his home. Over the years, Unger has worked in bookkeeping and served as the coordinator of his kibbutz. Unger's wife Naomi passed away in 2007. He has four children and 16 grandchildren.