Sam Weinreb, a Holocaust survivor who raised his family in McKeesport, passed away peacefully on Friday at the Hebrew Senior Life Rehabilitation Center in Roslindale, Massachusetts. He was 94 years old.
While only in his mid-teenage years, Weinreb somehow managed to survive some of the worst mental and physical abuse the Nazis could hand out.
Sam’s immediate family was born in 1926 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, to parents David and Freida Weinreb, and were murdered during the Holocaust. Shortly before his 13th birthday, he was returning home from a bar mitzvah lesson when he found the doors locked and his family gone.
Weinreb narrowly missed the “Summary of Jews” in Bratislava, in which 15,000 Jews were expelled or sent to concentration camps.
In the end, he fled to Hungary, where he lived outdoors on the streets of Budapest for the next six months. Most days the only food he could find was in trash cans behind restaurants.
“Can you imagine what it is like to be only 13 years old and not have a home, not knowing where you would sleep every night, not knowing where you would get your food every day, unable to Do you speak the language of the country you are in and are you constantly scared? “Weinreb told the Holocaust Testimony Project.
Weinreb decided that he could no longer live on the streets and turned himself in to the Hungarian police. He was sent to prison where he spent the next two years before the Germans came to Hungary.
Then he was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where anyone who couldn’t keep up with the brutal workload was shot or killed in the gas chambers.
When the war ended, Weinreb reconnected with his child treasure, Gloria “Goldie” Berger, another Holocaust survivor. They married and moved to the United States to settle and raise a family in McKeesport.
Weinreb earned his living as a watchmaker and jeweler. But he devoted much of his life to speaking in schools, universities, religious organizations, and other groups about the horrors he experienced during the Holocaust. He preferred to talk to young students.
“His story was compelling and clear, but he was so factual that every eighth grader could stick to its content and message,” said Scott Vensel, a teacher at Dorseyville Middle School in Indiana Community. “He was so gentle, calm, and lovable when it came to talking to the kids afterward.
“In the end, he wanted students to hear his story and think about their future. He was a treasure for humanity and felt obliged to share his experiences with the next generation. “
Lauren Bairnsfather, executive director of the Pittsburgh Holocaust Center, said Weinreb learned the importance of forgiveness.
“He said, ‘If you hold onto anger, you hurt yourself.'”
Those who knew him said he would be remembered for his deep dedication to his family and love for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Steelers.
Weinreb is survived by his two children, Stewart and Linda, and his granddaughter Hannah.
Commemorative donations can be made to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 100 Raul Wallenberg Place, SW, Washington, DC 20024. (Https://donate.ushmm.org)
Paul Guggenheimer is a contributor to Tribune Review. You can contact Paul at 724-226-7706 or pguggenheimer@triblive.com.
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