In March 1941, a 9-foot wall ghetto was established. The Knoblauch family was assigned to a one room in an apartment house. Forced labor and deportations to concentration camps started as early as mid-1941 and continued until the ghetto’s destruction in March 13, 1943. At that time, Mrs. Knoblauch was sent to a slave labor camp, Plaszow, while Oskar and the others in the family, along with 116 Jews from the ghetto were assigned to work at the SS Gestapo headquarters on Pomorska St. Oskar’s workstation was the boiler room in the basement that provide hot water and heat for the complex.

While there, Oskar’s father was murdered by a Nazi. Oskar, along with his siblings escaped on January 17, 1945 and were liberated the following day by advancing Soviet soldiers. The rest of their fellow workers were deported the eve of Jan. 17th to a concentration camp in the German interior, of which very few survived. In the summer of 1945 after the war, Oskar and his siblings were very fortunate to reunite with their mother and cousin. Oskar, along with his mother and cousin, ended up in a displaced person camp, Feldafing, near Munich, which was at the time in the American occupied zone.

In 2005, Oskar embarked on a lecturing career about the Holocaust to over 500,000 students. Oskar has left a legacy for future generations including his inspiring autobiography, A Boy’s Story, A Man’s Memory – Surviving the Holocaust 1933-1945; his website, www.voiceoftolerance.com which shines light on the scourge of bullying and prejudice.