Sam Biegun

"I wish that the Holocaust never had happened. No one should ever go through what we went through."

Name at birth

Shmuel Biegun

Date of birth

12/25/1932

Where were you born?

Pinsk, Poland

Where did you grow up?

Pinsk, Poland (now Belarus)

Name of father, occupation

Michael, Fine carpenter

Maiden name of mother, occupation

Devorah Rochel Kaplan, Homemaker

Immediate family (names, birth order)

Parents and three children: Eliyahu, Leah and Samuel

How many in entire extended family?

100

Who survived the Holocaust?

Parents, the three children, an uncle and his family, a cousin, maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather

When the Russians occupied Pinsk, they deported my immediate family to Siberia because we had a cousin who was accused of being an anti-Communist. From Siberia, my father wrote a letter to an official in the Russian government who allowed us to return to Pinsk. However, we had no money to buy train tickets. My father then wrote home for the family to send us money but by then World War II had broken out. We were trapped and had to remain in northern Kazakhstan which is Siberia. We later learned that our entire family back home in Pinsk all perished in the Holocaust.

After the war, we went to Shtetin, Poland, we did not return to Pinsk because everything was burned down. It was dangerous to be in Poland because of anti-Semitism. We smuggled across the border to Germany and went to live a Displaced Persons’ (DP) camp in Berlin. I went to school there. We left in 1948 because of the Russian Blockade of Berlin. We flew to Frankfurt and from there went by train to Schwäbisch Hall in western Germany. We were there till 1949 and then Marseilles, France to Israel. I was with my parents. My brother and sister were already living in Israel.

In 1950, I went into the Israeli army and was there for two years. In 1954, I married Miriam Rozwaski. Being in the Reserves, I fought in the Sinai Campaign in 1956. My parents and my brother passed away in Israel. My sister lives in Kfar Saba, Israel.

In 1959, my wife, our baby daughter Batya and I moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba to be with my wife’s sister and brother. We all later moved to Windsor.

Where were you in the Former Soviet Union?

Northern Kazakhstan, Siberia

What DP Camp were you after the war?

Yes, in Berlin

Where did you go after being liberated?

Shtetin, Poland; then DP camp in Berlin; Frankfurt; Western Germany; Marseilles, France; and to Israel

When did you come to the United States?

1959 to Winnipeg, Manitoba; then Windsor

How is it that you came to Michigan?

For work in September, 1969

Occupation after the war

Carpenter

Spouse

Miriam Rozwaski Biegun

Children

Batya and Lisa

Grandchildren

Two: Zachary and Rachel

What do you think helped you to survive?

I was lucky, I guess. We were fortunate to be deported. I often ask why did I survive and the rest of the family not. I think I survived to tell the story about my survival.

What message would you like to leave for future generations?

I wish that the Holocaust never had happened. No one should ever go through what we went through.