Abe Piasek
Abe Piasek[1], a survivor of four death camps in Poland and Germany, and a veteran of the U.S. Army, shared his story of survival with thousands of students and people throughout North Carolina at schools, universities, libraries, and military bases. At the end of the war, Abe (he preferred to be called "Abe" rather than Mr. Piasek) survived because the train he was on, which he later learned was bound for Dachau, was bombed by allied forces.[2]
Abe was born in Bialobrzegi, Poland, in 1928, and came to the United States in August of 1947. After World War II ended, Abe spent two years in displaced persons camps in Germany. He lived for 28 years in Connecticut, where he learned English, met his wife of 60 years, Shirley, and learned to be a baker. In 1975, he moved to California, and in 1991, he retired to Florida. A few years after the movie Schindler's List came out, Abe was interviewed by the USC Shoah Foundation in 1995.[3] He slowly began, after more than 40 years of silence[4], to tell his story to groups of students.
Abe and his wife, Shirley, moved to North Carolina in 2009. After Shirley died in 2012, Abe spent more and more time sharing his story with military bases[5], libraries[6], and community centers.
In 2015, Abe and other survivors were reunited with one of the U.S. soldiers who helped liberate them 70 years earlier.[7]
In April of 2019, Abe accompanied a group of high school students on a visit to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.[8] Though he had long been a member of the museum, this was his first visit there. While at the museum, Abe went to the cattle car on the third floor and narrated his liberation for his great-grandchildren and the other students on the trip.
In late May of 2019, Abe gave a talk for nearly two hours[9] at a church in Faison, NC.
Abe fell while doing work in his garage in September, 2019, and was hospitalized for several weeks. While in the hospital, he took the opportunity to share his story with doctors, nurses, and patients at Wake Med Hospital (despite being in a neck brace and a wheelchair at the time).[10]
Abe passed away on January 15, 2020.
- ^ "Holocaust survivor, Abe Piasek, dies at 91 in Raleigh". ABC News. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Abe Survives a Death Train" (PDF). North Carolina Council on the Holocaust. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "USC Shoah Foundation Institute testimony of Abram Piasek".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "After 40 years of silence, Raleigh Holocaust survivor's story now inspires others". CBS.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Holocaust Survivor Shares His Story with Base Community". Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune Diversity Committee hosts a Holocaust Remembrance event.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "He survived the Holocaust".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Boudin, Michelle (30 April 2015). "Holocaust Survivors Emotionally Reunite with Soldier Who Helped Free Them". People Magazine.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Holocaust survivor, 90, makes first visit to US Holocaust Memorial Museum with Triangle students".
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Holocaust Survivor Abe Piasek".
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Mitchell, Mandy (2 October 2019). "Holocaust survivor uses hospital stay to tell personal story". WRAL-TV.
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