Warsaw Ghetto survivor celebrates
He was one of the last survivors to be smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto on the eve of the uprising, just prior to Passover 1943.
On Saturday, August 17, Berysz Aurbach will celebrate his 104th birthday.
He was one of the last survivors to be smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto on the eve of the uprising, just prior to Passover 1943.
“The ghetto was already burning and on fire,” he said, as he was taken to a safe house on the Polish side.
He is in good health, despite his age.
He recently “held court” with a group of teenage graduate Adass boys. He chatted with the group and many left with admiration. One student asked if he could return to talk with him again.
Born in 1920, Aurbach comes from a long line of Chasidic rabbis.
His family had lived in the Polish town of Biala Podlaska for hundreds of years, which is known for its connection to the Ger Chasidic sect.
He had three elder brothers and a sister, as well as a half-brother from his father’s second marriage.
His family life was comfortable, and to this day he can recite the prayers and Torah that he learnt as a youth in his local Polish Talmud Torah school.
His story of survival is captivating. “My life is very rich; I have experienced many things,” he said.
His family history is intertwined with the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
His brother, Mordecai Aurbach, was the head of the right-wing Zionist youth group, Hanoar Hazioni, which alongside other youth movements in the ghetto, including Hashomer Hatzair, led by Mordechai Anielewicz, formed the Jewish Fighting Organisation.
Aurbach recalls his elder brother played an integral role in smuggling weapons and obtaining finance to pay for the arms that were used by Anielewicz and the other Jews to fight the Germans during the uprising.
“My elder brother Mordechai, together with other ghetto leaders, went to rich people in Warsaw to obtain money for arms,” he says. “Rich people gave him and other leaders money after my brother convinced them to fund resistance in the ghetto.”
It was through his brother that he was provided safe passage from the ghetto.
However, Aurbach’s safety came with a terrible caveat: while he would be hidden on the Polish side, hiding places for other immediate family members in the ghetto, including his father and brothers, could not be secured.
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