On This Fateful Day in 1942

featured:
Dr. Alexander White, Holocaust Survivor
december  4, 2020

Born Alexander Bialywlos in 1923, Dr. White grew up in the town of Krosno, Poland. He was 14 years old, on September 1, 1939, when the Nazis invaded Poland and began their reign of terror. His father’s last words as they were taking him to the gas chambers at Auschwitz Concentration Camp, were to be a Mensch, which is Yiddish for “a special, ideal human being: a person endowed with the finest attributes by Our Creator, including charity, kindness, tolerance, honesty and love of mankind.” He immigrated to Chicago after the War ended and became a successful doctor and medical school professor.

Friday, Dec. 4th is the Anniversary of the liquidation of the Krosno ghetto in 1942. Dr. White spent more than a year in several camps, including Krakow-Plaszow and Gross-Rosen, before moving to one of the camps where Oskar Schindler saved thousands of Jews by employing them in his factories. At Krakow-Plaszow, Alex was ordered to open mass graves and burn the corpses. Next he was taken to Gross-Rosen, a brutal camp. This seminar tells the story of a sole survivor.

Following the war, Alex was aided by several Jewish organizations, studied medicine in Munich, and came to America in 1950. In Chicago, Alex met his wife, Inez, and joined the US Army, having served in the Korean War. To date, Dr. White continues to promote Holocaust education by teaching students not to be indifferent, to get an education, and to be a Mensch.