Henry Maslowicz

Born: December 25, 1940, Wierzbnik-Starachowice, Poland

For 150 years, the Jewish family of Henry Maslowicz lived in harmony with their Christian neighbors. That changed when the Germans occupied their hometown in 1939. Henry's father owned an iron and coal factory. Many Jews left, but Henry's parents stayed. A year later, the Nazis created a ghetto, a part of the city where Jewish people were forced to live. Henry was born there. In 1942, upon hearing that the Nazis were going to take everyone out of the ghetto, Henry's father sent his young son to be hidden in a Catholic convent. He was left out on the street instead and picked up by a woman. She took him to an attic, fed him, and kept him hidden. He didn't even know his own name.

A Jewish social worker discovered Henry there and took him to Israel. He eventually reunited with his father and moved first to Ecuador, then the United States.