Sidney Finkel

Curated by Emanuel Salinas

Sidney Finkel was born as Sevek Finkelstein in Piotrkow, Poland before WWII. Throughout the war, he experienced abandonment, tragedy, and even kindness. Sidney lied about his age on multiple occasions in order to survive. He worked in factories and labor camps for the Germans and used to wits to survive. Sidney went to multiple camps to work, and in the end of the war was liberated. After the war, Sidney was able to go to boarding school in England to get an education, and eventually immigrate to the United States to work as a manager. He resides in Arizona today where he tells his story in order to promote tolerance.

Before the War

Sidney Finkel was born Sevek Finkelstein in Piotrkow, Poland on December 19, 1931. For the average boy, let alone a Jewish boy, to be born in the early 1930s. Hitler would become the Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Great Depression was at its…

Start of World War II

Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the West on September 1st to October 6th, 1939. After Nazi Germany invaded Poland, many friends and relatives of the Finkelsteins went over to their apartment to hear what was going on through the radio since not many…

Abandonment

When they arrived in Sulejow it was very crowded as many people from Piotrkow had traveled to Sulejow. Many families were greeting each other, and spirits were up for everyone was with someone. However, very short after Sidney began to hear the noise…

The Ghetto

In 1940, Sidney’s mother and sister came back to the family. Sidney did not really care ever since they both abandoned him and his father. His mother sewed on a yellow patch on his jacket with a J on it to indicate that he is a Jew. Even though they…

Labor Camp

In 1943, twelve year old Sidney, his father Lieb and brother Isaac were sent to a slave labor camp in Bugaj, Poland. At the conclusion of the deportations, the Nazis hung a sign at the railroad station of Piotrkow saying, “PIOTRKOW IS CLEANSED OF…

Concentration Camp

In November 1944, rumors began to spread that many of the Jews would be evacuated again to another camp. This brought tremendous fear among the surviving Jews at the labor camp. Within less than a month Sidney would turn 13 years of age and be a Bar…

Buchenwald

In 1944, when Sidney was 13 his father and brother were transferred to a new concentration camp called Buchenwald in Germany. During this time, Sidney was alone and had to change his mentality to be able to survive on his own. All that he could rely…

Liberation

As Germany was losing the war, the German Guards were ordered to destroy any evidence of the German’s crimes at the camp. They lined up all the prisoners onto cars to be sent elsewhere. One day before Buchenwald was liberated by the Americans,…

Education

In 1946, when Sidney was fourteen he began to go back to school at the Bunce Court Boarding School. Sidney knew enough English to follow along and ask questions about what was going on in class. He struggled with schooling at the start because of his…

Life After the Holocaust

In 1951, when Sidney was 20 he moved to the United States of America to join his sister Lola and her family. To become a citizen of the United States he had to go to the Embassy in England to be asked a few questions. One of the questions was to know…