Adam Kirszenbaum
"Be a Mensch (a good person)."
Name at birth
Abraham Aron Kirzenbaum
Date of birth
04/24/1920
Where did you grow up?
Warsaw, Poland
Name of father, occupation
Jehil,
Accountant
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Malka Hanover,
Homemaker
Immediate family (names, birth order)
Parents, Edil Fishel, me and Pesa
How many in entire extended family?
Grandparents and uncles
Who survived the Holocaust?
Just myself
I was born in Warsaw, Poland. At 19 I was in the Warsaw ghetto with my family. I escaped at night with a female friend. I walked to Bialystock, Russia. I had to choose between becoming a Russian citizen and being sent to a Siberian labor camp. I went to the labor camps and cut trees in frigid weather. I was then sent to Buchara, Russia. I met my future wife in Buchara, but wouldn’t marry her because I wanted my family in Poland to attend the wedding. Unfortunately, my entire family perished in the Holocaust.
After the war, I went back to Poland for a year and a half, and then left for Detroit. I changed my name from Abraham to Adam. I became a citizen in 1955.
Name of Ghetto(s)
Name of Concentration / Labor Camp(s)
Where were you in the Former Soviet Union?
Bialystock, Siberia, Buchara
Where did you go after being liberated?
Poland, near Germany
When did you come to the United States?
1947
Where did you settle?
Detroit, Michigan
How is it that you came to Michigan?
I chose it because the weather is similar to Poland
Occupation after the war
Dry goods peddler
When and where were you married?
After the war in Poland
Spouse
Sylvia,
Homemaker
Children
Norma, homemaker Carl, salesman
Grandchildren
Six and two great-grandchildren
What do you think helped you to survive?
I don’t know. I am still questioning that.
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
Be a Mensch (a good person).
Interviewer:
Charles Silow
Interview date:
04/04/2011
Experiences
Survivor's map
