One of the Lucky Ones

The following is a synopsis of Sam Laskier’s book which recounts his life before, during and after the Holocaust.

Sam was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1927. His parents were both tailors. He was a happy child and lived a traditional Jewish lifestyle.

The Germans entered Warsaw in September 1939. Food rationing was introduced, and Jews were forced to wear a Star of David on their clothes. The Warsaw ghetto was formed where the conditions were appalling, and school and work stopped.

Sam’s parents arranged for him to be smuggled out of Warsaw to his mother’s family in Ostrowiec. In 1943, the remaining Jews in Ostrowiec were evacuated. Sam was transported to Bozochoff labour camp and then to Blizyn where he was chosen to work in a quarry. He was marched to other camps for a short time and then to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Spring 1944. On 8 May 1945, he was finally liberated by the Russian Army.

Sam was one of nearly 300 Jewish orphans who were brought to Windermere in England, for rehabilitation. After a few months, Sam decided to move to Manchester. He became an entrepreneur, selling menswear all over Northwest England.

He met his future wife in Manchester, and they married in December 1956. They were blessed with four children and five grandchildren. Sam passed away in 2020.

“I was just 12 years old when the Second World War broke out on 1 September 1939. A young child, with expectations and dreams ahead of me. I had a good childhood. We were not wealthy, but we had everything we wanted.”

Sam Laskier

“I was conscious of everything that was going on but couldn’t absorb the significance of it all. I was young and generally unaware of the politics of the war or anything that was happening outside of the ghetto. I just knew that times were hard, and we were hungry.”

Sam Laskier

“Living in the concentration camps as a youngster…you thought this is our way of life, that’s how it is. We didn’t think, we took it, whatever they gave us. They gave me a hiding; I took a hiding. And that’s how, most probably, we survived.”

Sam Laskier

One of the Lucky Ones

Cookie use