Abe's Artifacts

Before 1945

There are not many pictures from Abe’s family that survived the war. here are a few documents from Abe’s time in slave labor camps — for instance, his name is recorded at the Vaihingen slave labor camp in Germany, where he arrived in June 1944 and departed in October 1944 for the Hessental slave labor camps.

1945-47: in German Displaced Persons Camps

Abe was in two camps — Feladfink and Foerenwald, both located outside of Munich. There’s a great picture of Abe on a bicycle from 1946 and he tells a great story about how he managed to upgrade to a motorcycle. Abe came to the US in 1947 on a ship called the “Marine Flasher” and there’s a record of his entry at Ellis Island on August 3, 1947.

Starting a family in Connecticut

Abe settled in Connecticut, married his wife of 63 years, Shirley, and started a family. Soon after his children, Joe and Pam, were born, Abe worked as a baker. From 1964-75, he owned “Richard’s Bake Shop,” a popular and well-loved business in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Abe saved a copy of “The Wethersfield Post” from 1964 from the day he bought the bakery.  There’s also a front page article in the Hartford Courant from Christmas of 1974, talking about how a blackout hit many businesses hard — Abe and Shirley’s bakery is on the front page, and an article describes how they lost a good deal of their inventory because there was no refrigeration. The only person interviewed in the article is Shirley — I’m not sure if that’s because Abe’s English was not so good at the time, or whether he was just more busy baking so Shirley spoke to the reporter — but I would have expected Abe to have been quoted in the article.

Service in the US Army

Abe served in the US Army. He just missed going to Korea because his kids were born and he switched to reserve status. There must be records about his service, but I have not found them yet — I have a picture of Abe in a uniform from the 1950s, and he was given a military funeral when he passed away at age 91 in North Carolina in 2020.

Moving to California (1975-1992)

In 1975, Abe and Shirley packed up their things and drove across the country to make a move to California. There, Abe ran a bakery in Los Angeles until his retirement in 1991. He became friendly with his next door neighbor, Len, who Abe and Shirley kiddingly “adopted.”  Len became like a member of the family. 

Trip to Poland

In 1991, Abe took his family to Poland to see his home town of Bialobrzegi. He thankfully got pictures of where he grew up because when he and Shirley returned in 1996 with a fellow Holocaust survivor, Abe Flekier, and his wife, Abe’s house had been torn down.

Retirement to Florida (1992-2009)

In 1992, Abe retired to Florida. In 1995 he was interviewed for the first time about his experience as a Holocaust survivor by the Shoah Foundation. Prior to that interview, Abe never spoke about what happened during the war and the Holocaust at any length. People knew he was “a survivor,” but it was understood that he did not want to talk about that subject. After that interview, his initial reaction was “I did the interview — and now I’m not talking about it again” (that’s not a quote from Abe, but I understand that was his reaction).

Slowly, however, he did start speaking at schools and community centers and synagogues in Florida.

Moving to North Carolina

In 2009, Abe and Shirley moved to North Carolina to be near their daughter, Pam. They lived in Raleigh, and Abe continued to speak to a few schools and groups. After Shirley passed away in 2012, Abe had more time and he became a beloved and sought-after Holocaust speaker, speaking all over the Triangle and all over the state. Abe spoke to hundreds of venues and must have spoken to more than 20,000 people. There are many video recordings of Abe’s speeches, and if you search for him on Twitter, there are lots of pictures of Abe, surrounded by people who were moved by his story.