Michael Bornstein

Michael Bornstein experienced a life much different than ours. He suffered, persevered, and overcame all the obstacles that stood in his way. When he began his lecture, he talked about his story, and his family’s story. He was born in the ghetto around 1940 and only knew a life after war. His dad was an accountant, and his mom and grandma had little to no education. During his beginning of life, the ghetto (Zarki) was changing from an community to a close community. The dad was the president of a Jewish committee but was also the in between person with the police. As the ghetto became stricter the dad would collect money to hand out 600+ visa’s to save lives of the other Jews, and would bribe other officers to stop sending people to death camps.
The population in Poland was densely ⅔ of Jewish immigrants but also their standard of living was poor to nothing at all. As well as the mortality rate was at an all time high and the population of Germany decreased severely from the migration towards Israel/Palestine and other Jewish states, as well as the total deaths that occurred. In Germany, the equality of people remained strictly towards those who followed the communist pathway, and didn’t belong to a Jewish community. Even the younger children of Jewish communities suffered more than others because they couldn’t contribute as much work and the Nazi’s refused for them to grow up as a Jewish descendant. From this lecture, I learned more than I thought I would. I knew some things from the holocaust since I took German in high school, and have covered the holocaust in other classes I’ve attended. However, hearing a personal story from someone who experienced the holocaust first hand was eye opening. I know my attitude towards the situation would be more hostile than what the Bornstein family was. Overall, I can say the event and watching the film has given me more of an understanding of the whole situation between the Nazi’s and the