For the last few years of his life, Sol (Szulem) Silberzweig was working on his autobiography – determined to leave a record of his life for his family and the Jewish people. Sadly, Sol died during the final stages of the book; however the story of his life is being published posthumously as a memorial to him and the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust. Sol epitomizes the Jewish fighter and survivor as we read of his heroic actions in the Warsaw ghetto as he saves members of his family, in the seven concentration camps he survived, and later, in the United States, when he stood up to the Union. Sol’s story is tragically typical of many Jews living in Europe during the Second World War. The youngest of seven children, he was born in Warsaw in 1917 to a traditional Jewish family, who had been in the fur business for four generations. When the war broke out in 1939, 22-year old Sol was already ‘in the business’. Trapped in the Warsaw ghetto, he met his childhood sweetheart, Gittel. Their lives were intertwined throughout the war as both went from concentration camp to concentration camp. At war’s end, traveling all around Europe, Sol found his Gittel, and the couple married. Arriving in the US, Sol set up a fur business and fighting the American Unions along the way, established a successful, international business. Tragically and ironically, while on a business trip in Germany, Gittel was killed in a car accident. This book is dedicated to the memory of Szulem and Gittel Silberzweig. “I recommend this volume, for I believe in the overall importance of survivors’ testimonies. Due to their experience, they carry a unique weight of authenticity.” [Elie Wiesel]
