• Born in 1938 in Paris, France.
• Parents were originally from Poland and had joined the Bund. They chose to leave Poland and move to France because they anticipated trouble in Poland.
• During the war, Simcha’s father was arrested by the Vichy police and sent to a labor camp called Phitivier. From there, he was sent to Auschwitz and never returned.
• Simcha’s mother was frightened and was able to hide Simcha with a Catholic family in a nearby suburb.
• Simcha was raised as a Catholic during the war.
• Simcha’s mother died in 1945, but was able to notify family in America about her son’s whereabouts.
• Simcha’s Hasidic family from Soviet Asia found out about his whereabouts from the American relatives and went to France to retrieve Simcha.
• In 1950, Simcha came to the United States. By that point, he had changed from a devout Catholic boy to an Orthodox Hasid.

Zamosc, Poland

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0021_0_21390.html

Tomaszow-Lubelski

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0020_0_19937.html

Hitler and Stalin -- non-aggression pact

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact

Jews escape to Siberia

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005470

DP Camps

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/dptoc.html

December DPs

Displaced Persons - Yad Vashem

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/

http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%206273.pdf