Child Holocaust survivor describes escape from mass execution

Solomon (Sjema) Feigerson was born in 1930 in Liepaja, Latvia, the middle of three sons. His older brother Hanoch was killed in June 1941, in defense of the town against the Germans. His father, Yaakov, was murdered in July 1941, and his mother and younger brother Josef were murdered at the Skede execution grounds in February 1942. Solomon escaped that and another murder operation in April by running away, despite being shot by Latvian guards.

In July 1942, the Jews of Liepaja were herded into a ghetto. Solomon lived in one room with 20 other orphaned boys. On Yom Kippur (October) 1943, the ghetto was liquidated and Solomon was deported to the Kaiserwald labor camp. There he met and bonded with Lina Goldblatt, a prisoner from Hamburg, and her daughter, Rosa. She was like a mother to me, he recalls, she even sewed me a shirt and a pair of pants.

In August 1944 Solomon was transferred to the Stutthof concentration camp, and in April 1945 he was put on one of four ships carrying 500 inmates, sent into the Baltic Sea to die. Solomons ship eventually sailed into Neustadt on 3 May 1945. German sailors on the shore shot at the survivors. A British soldier found him, exhausted and ill, clutching a loaf of bread.

After the war, Solomon went to Riga. He studied engineering and started a family. While in Riga, he campaigned with Holocaust survivors and others to emigrate to Israel. He arrived in Israel in 1971 where he worked as an engineer and volunteered with a number of organizations commemorating the Holocaust and assisting survivors. He also published a book about the destruction of the Jewish community of Liepaja.

Solomon and his wife Ethel have a son and two grandchildren.

For more details, click here: http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/remembrance/2009/feigerson.asp

Category:

Education

Tags:

• yad
• vashem
• yom
• hashoah
• holocaust
• survivor
• testimony
• shoah
• liepaja
• latvia
• משפט אייכמן
• גדעון הואזנר

[lyndzi18]

god bless lina goldblatt for caring for this man when he was all alone

[SalvationEternity777]

God bless the Jews

[Anykk1]

is the survivor still alive or dead

[alisia1234567]

And some people complain about their lives.This people are heroes. They survived. Respect.

[minemail7]

@Crustydraw totally agree!!

[Crustydraw]

@StopFear May God Bless and help heal these peoples wounds. Many consider their faith to be the thing that helped them through the horror so whats wrong with expressing it here.... this isnt a public school. I think you should remove the comment it was far less apropriate.

[NocturnePerson]

all these people must be an inspiration to all of us despite nationality and beliefs..we are all human and no one should ever experience such thing as holocaust.

[garizable]

cant even imagine the horrors... i wonder how people went through all that...

[sutonchef]

YES LINA GOLDBLATT IS A HERO WITH THESE SURVIVORS

[TheJaceMaster]

May God bless this poor guy. I hope hes living good in Israel.

[Awesomenizzleness]

I cant imagine how scary this was, my heart goes out to all those who died and survived

[SuperiorTwin]

He was one of the lucky ones... God Bless him♥