Chapter 10. The Journey Home
As Henry sat in his barrack looking out into the displaced persons (DP) camp that he was temporarily being held at, he had only one thought in his mind—"Who from my family has survived?" At this point in time he had no idea that more than three million of his fellow Jews from Poland were murdered. The Jewish population of Poland before the war was roughly 3.5 million. Less than ten percent survived the Nazi genocide. What he did know, and found hard to believe, was that he was alive, and free. Now it was up to him to decide what to do with the rest of his life. He would decide where to live and what kind of work he would do to make a living. He had just turned 19 years old on the very same day that he was liberated by American GI's. He was reborn from the womb of hell into the arms of freedom, and his first order of business was to find the remaining members of his family.
The United Nations Refugee Relief Agency, otherwise known as UNRRA, set up an office at the center of the DP camp. They gave Henry a temporary passport that allowed him free travel to anywhere within Europe. After a couple of months of recuperating and telling his story to the UNRRA workers and American GI's, Henry set out for his hometown in Radom, Poland. He was told that if anyone from his family had survived, they would most likely go there first. On his way to Poland, Henry stopped in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He traveled by bus and train and was carrying all of his life's possessions in a small, badly worn leather suitcase.
The United Nations Refugee Relief Agency, otherwise known as UNRRA, set up an office at the center of the DP camp. They gave Henry a temporary passport that allowed him free travel to anywhere within Europe. After a couple of months of recuperating and telling his story to the UNRRA workers and American GI's, Henry set out for his hometown in Radom, Poland. He was told that if anyone from his family had survived, they would most likely go there first. On his way to Poland, Henry stopped in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He traveled by bus and train and was carrying all of his life's possessions in a small, badly worn leather suitcase.