Wolfgang Munzer
By: Amy Holtzclaw
Introduction to Wolfgang Munzer
When most people think about the Holocaust they usually only think about the deaths. Usually they do not think about the survivors. The Holocaust had a before, during, and after like all events, but what happened to a survivor started off as something normal, but took a turn and eventually an end. The turn for one man could of been his end,like millions of others. Most people did not have a choice as to what was going to happen to their life. A lot of people lost complete control and were forced to put their lives in the hands of strangers. He was Wolfgang Munzer. Was he ever really safe?
The Beginning of a Long road
Born on February twenty-sixth 1920 in Berlin Germany. Wolfgang Munzer started his life in a world of disappointment and tears. He was an only child of Jewish parents. His father was the foreign representative for a sewing notions company. Wolfgang and his family lived in an apartment in the southwestern district of the city. There he attended a school to receive education for his dream of being an Electrical Engineer.
Lost in the Pasture
1933-1939: Wolfgang’s father left Germany cause he was a socialist and feared getting caught. Wolfgang’s mother tried to take care of him but she became sick so his grandmother took over. His grandmother was eventually too old to take care of him. She was left with no choice but to put him in an orphanage. Jews were not allowed in Public School so Munzer joined a Jewish middle school. In 1937 Wolfgang joined his father in Paris, and entered a training institute to learn to become a mechanic.
The Ending of the Forgotten
1940-1944: Munzer’s father became remarried by 1943. Many Jews found it to be safe in France because of its occupation there, Jews were not persecuted there. When Italy surrendered so did many other places, and that’s when the Germans occupied the area. In March of 1944, Wolfgang and his parents were deported to Auschwitz. When they arrived Wolfgang and his family were separated. All off the get their heads shaved. Wolfgang's parents were gassed upon arrival, Wolfgang believed his time would come too.
The Truth
Munzer knew that if he worked hard then he could become one of the longest surviving prisoners, so that’s what he did. Wolfgang was put into an electrical components factory and survived the war. He emigrated to America in 1947. In the year of 1948 no one knew what had happened to Wolfgang Munzer, people just assumed he was fine.