In this photograph, a group of children who have been liberated is escorted out of Buchenwald’s main gate by the American army. Stanley Weinstein is in front of the fourth row and wears a hat which he made himself.
Children During the Holocaust
More than one million Jewish children died during the Holocaust, and many became orphans. Most young children were sent to the gas chambers upon arriving to concentration camps. Only teenagers who were considered strong enough to work were selected for forced labour. Separated from their parents, they had to survive on their own.
Stanley Weinstein: A Child in Buchenwald Camp
Stanley Weinstein was born in 1928 in Jaslo, Poland. In 1942, his parents and sisters were deported to the Belzec killing centre. Stanley never saw his family again. As a young teenager, he was selected for forced labour and worked in various factories in Poland before being deported to Buchenwald.
As the American army approached the camp, the camp guards forced the prisoners on a death march. Stanley was not evacuated and remained in the camp with the other children. He was liberated by the Americans on April 11, 1945. Amongst thousands of other children, Stanley waited for two months in the camp to be relocated. He immigrated to the United States, visited Montreal in 1952 and decided to move there.
Robert Monheit, a French rabbi who helped Jewish families hide during the Holocaust, donated this photograph to the Montreal Holocaust Museum in 2012.
This project is part of the implementation of the Plan culturel numérique du Québec.
