Sam Harris, the youngest Holocaust survivor, tells WINK News his story

Holocaust Remembrance Day is on Saturday, Jan. 27.

It’s a small way to honor those killed and remind everyone what happened at the hands of the Nazis.

Between 1933 and 1945, they murdered 11 million people, 6 million of whom were Jewish.

Fast forward to 2024, and there are not many Holocaust survivors left.

WINK News Anchor Nicole Gabe sat down at the Holocaust Museum & Cohen Education Center to interview Samuel Harris, a man who, for decades, did not want to talk about the horrors he saw, but now he can’t stop sharing.

“I can’t believe that I made it, but here I am,” said Samuel Harris.

At 88 years old, Harris is one of the youngest Holocaust survivors.

“There were a million and a half Jewish children killed by Hitler. I’m a rarity,” said Harris.

Harris was born in Deblin, Poland, in 1935.

“My childhood was a wonderful childhood. I was the youngest of seven children. And I think I was probably a little spoiled as the youngest of seven,” said Harris.

But that normal childhood changed when the Germans invaded Poland. The blitzkrieg on Sept. 1, 1939.

“Nazi airplanes came down, not long, and started shooting at people,” said Harris.

“Once the Nazis came in, they started beating Jewish people cutting their beards off. That’s what they did with my father. My father has a long beard,” said Harris. “I mean, they were they were beating and everything. Eventually, they made a ghetto.”

The Germans’ plan was to force Jews to reside in marked-off sections of towns and cities called ghettos. Usually, they were located in the oldest, most rundown areas.

“They had an area with barbed wires or walls. You couldn’t leave there. If you left, you were shot. It was that simple,” said Harris.

By the end of the 1940s, the Nazis started to pack people into cattle cars. Harris lived because of his father’s quick thinking.

“My father pushed me out of the line. He says, ‘Go hide over there,'” said Harris.

Harris’s older sister, 22-year-old Rosa, and 8-year-old Sara were already hiding there.

“Yelling and crying and shooting. Pretty soon, they all marched off in the direction of the cattle cars in that’s, in that lane where my parents, sisters, brothers, cousins, neighbors, friends, all went in the cattle cars. To Treblinka or one of those two. And that’s the last that I saw my family,” said Harris.

Rosa snuck them all into a concentration camp outside of Deblin. While she worked, Harri and Sara hid. As you might expect, life was awful, and Harris was just a young boy.

“I was scared. But I wanted to live,” said Harris.

Despite the fear, he lived. Harris lived to see the Soviets liberate Poland.

“That’s where I saw for the first time freedom,” said Harris.

A year later, Rosa smuggled Harris and Sara to Austria and arranged for them to get to the United States. Eventually, different families adopted them.

“I came to the United States in September ’47. I was 12 years old. And all I wanted to be is an American boy,” said Harris.

Harris grew up in suburban Chicago but never mentioned his Nazi horror story for 40 years until he got sick of listening to Holocaust deniers.

“I was there. I’m 88. Don’t you believe me? Come see me personally. I shared with you go to visit Auschwitz now. Go to visit Triblanca and see the mountains of ash, of human ash still remaining,” said Harris.

In 2024, Harris spends his time between Illinois and Southwest Florida, openly sharing his life story without hesitation. Harris has even written two books.

Harris has given countless seminars and even has a hologram at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.

Harris prays there will never be another Holocaust. That’s why he doesn’t want anyone to forget what happened 80 years ago.

“He who forgets the past is condemned to repeat it in the future. Big time,” said Harris.

While different families adopted Harris and Sara, they stayed connected and still see each other. Harris’s sister, Rosa, fell in love with a man she met in a concentration camp.

They got married and lived in Austria, but always wrote to them.

Harris’s book, “Sammy: Child Survivor of the Holocaust,” is available all over the world.

Click here for information on buying his book.