Survivor Profiles: Israel Starck
Holocaust education is extremely important and I hope and I pray that eventually… every child is going to be given the opportunity to learn about the Holocaust and all its ramifications. And I am very happy to say that I am seeing some valid signs that we are heading that way.
Israel Starck
His Story:
Israel “Izzy” Starck was born Israel Storch in 1929 in the town of Podhoryan-Munkács, then a part of Czechoslovakia. He and his three sisters were raised in an Orthodox household. After the Germans invaded his hometown in Spring 1944, the family was taken to the Munkacs Ghetto and deported to Auscwhitz-Birkenau, where Izzy was separated from his sisters and mother. He later learned his mother was gassed upon arrival. Izzy lied about his age during the selection and entered the camp with his father. Izzy and his father were then sent to Mauthausen, where they were separated, and his father died in Gusen. Izzy was then sent from Mauthausen to Melk, where he dug tunnels for the German air force. In early 1945, Melk was evacuated, and Izzy was sent to Ebensee, where he was liberated by the American army on May 8, 1945. After the war, the American Army took Izzy back to his hometown of Podhorany, where he found that two of his older sisters had survived the war. In 1948, Izzy and his sisters immigrated to the United States, with his entry sponsored by Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1957, he married Ethel, and they had seven children. He and his family remained Orthodox. Israel is the author of A Boy Named 68818 and speaks frequently about this Holocaust experiences.