I was born on December 6, 1931 in
Bedzin, Poland, a city with a population of 75,000, about a third
Jewish. It was a large and thriving Jewish community. My family included my father, mother and two older brothers, David and Victor, who we called Voltleb at home. Though we were not ultra-orthodox, we attended
Shul every Friday night. I had quite a few aunts and uncles. Only one cousin survived the
Holocaust.
We were not rich and my father worked very hard. He was a tailor who made suits for clothing stores. He worked from our home, which consisted of two rooms. One room was used as our bedroom and eating area, while the other was used as my father's workshop and the kitchen. The building had no indoor plumbing.