Hersh B

My hero’s name is Hershel B or Harry B. Hershel was born to a loving family. He was the son of Esther Malca and Solomon B. He was born on May 15, 1927 in Romania, in the province of Transilvania. Growing up, Hersh had four sisters. Hersh’s oldest sister was Helen. He also had a sister named Razel, and another one named Miriam, and Rivcah was the youngest. His father supported the family. He owned a flock of sheep. He also owned a farm. Hersh had a hard time to say what I’m about to say. I asked him, "How old were you at the time of the Holocaust?"

He was seventeen at the time of the Holocaust in a concentration camp called Auschwitz. Hersh worked building houses for Germans. What was the atmosphere during the Holocaust? The atmosphere was very dangerous with bomb guns going off like there was no tomorrow. People suffered. He was liberated from Bergen-Belzen by the British army. He survived by a miracle. When the Holocaust was over, he had mixed feelings. He was happy to be free, but sad to have lost his family.

After the Holocaust he was a dentist, but he couldn’t go to school because he had no money. He was brought as an orphan by the Canadian Jewish Congress to Montreal, Canada in 1948. He had two really good friends that came with him to Canada. Hersh started to look for a job, because in order to go to school, he needed money. He became a welder. He welded stoves. He made $16 a week, which was very little at the time. Hersh moved in as a boarder. A family took him in and gave him food and shelter. He shared a room with Sol in a house on Baverly Street. Hersh had a good bond with Sol. They thought that they were like brothers. Later on, Hersh married Shirley, Sol's sister, in 1978, and they became brother-in-laws. Hersh overcame a lot of obstacles in his life. He had to overcome two operations on his brain because he had fluid inside. With all that he went through, on April 18, 2003 his wife Shirley passed away. Hersh is my hero. He influenced me to never give up because he never gave up.