Philip Bialowitz (1925–2016)

Philip Bialowitz was born Fiszel Bialowicz to a Jewish family in Izbica, eastern Poland. After Germany invaded his hometown in World War II, he was marched along with his older brother Simcha and other Jews to a nearby cemetery, where Nazi soldiers opened fire. He pretended to be wounded and lay for hours among the bodies. He was later taken with Simcha and other family members to the secret extermination camp at Sobibor. The Bialowitz brothers were put to work as slave laborers. On October 14, 1943, Jews and Russian POWs in the camp staged a daring escape. About 300 fled through the gates; nearly all were recaptured, but the brothers were among the 50 or so who succeeded in getting away. A Polish farmer hid the brothers until the Soviet Army arrived. After the war, Philip Bialowitz spent time in a displaced persons camp in Germany, and in 1950, emigrated to the USA. He settled first in Columbus, Ohio, and later moved to New York City, where he worked as a jeweler in the diamond district in Manhattan. In 2010, he testified at the trial in Germany of John Demjanjuk. Mr. Bialowitz devoted much of his later life to speaking and writing about his experiences, determined to keep alive the history. He spoke frequently about the Holocaust and traveled the world to tell his story. He published a memoir entitled A Promise at Sobibor: A Jewish Boy's Story of Revolt and Survival (2010).