Holocaust Survivor Earns High School Diploma at 87
Forward shares with us the story of Holocaust survivor Mordechai Miller who feels so excited to have just received a high school diploma at 87 years old. For a Holocaust survivor like Miller, receiving an education during the war was unusual. “My education from Poland was nothing. I only made it to the first grade in ‘39,” he explains. Thankfully, the now-Long Island resident survived the war in hiding with his family. “I was a hidden child. [I was hidden] in a forest, in a bunker, by Polish people. We paid them money to hide us out,” he remembers. The only form of education Miller did receive after the age of 8 years old came at a makeshift school in Germany’s Displaced Persons Camp. Eventually, his family made their way to the United States after a stint in Israel, where Miller served in the Israeli Army. When the family finally arrived on American soil, his father became sick. “Me and my brother went to work to make a living,” he says… Now, at the age of 87 with a loving wife, four children, six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, Miller has finally been recognized for learning — he received a high school diploma from Smithtown High School just a few weeks ago. |
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