Michael Rosenberg

Michael Rosenberg was born in 1926, in Szydlowiec, Poland. The Rosenberg family lived in Szydlowiec  (near Radom) for at least a couple hundred years. They were a well respected, Hassidic family with close connections to the Gerer Rabbi. The family enjoyed a happy life, and Michael, known then as Majer, planned on becoming a rabbi.

When the German army occupied his town, life became much harsher as a series of anti-Jewish measures was introduced. In 1941, Michael was sent to a slave labour camp near Skarzysko. Later, he was deported to the Wolanów concentration camp, and from there to the Blizyn concentration camp near Lublin. In 1943, Michael was deported to the Pionki concentration camp from which he managed to escape.  He survived posing as a Catholic Pole, living in a small village in the countryside. When the war ended, Michael searched for survivors of his extended family and discovered that his mother and only a few relatives survived. In 1948, he immigrated to Toronto, Canada. He married in 1952 and raised his family in Toronto.

Michael Rosenberg died in 2009 and his full testimony is part of the Canadian Collection of Holocaust survivor testimonies. It is preserved in the USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive and accessible through the Ekstein Library.

Michael Rosenberg

 Why did I survive and not my brother?