Harry Schneider
Harry Schneider was born on April 20, 1937 in Lomazy, Poland to Gedale Schneider and Gertrude (Gitel) Schneider. Harry was two and a half years old when the Nazis invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. His father was a soldier in the Polish army and witnessed atrocities carried out by the Nazis firsthand. The family made a decision to flee their home, taking refuge in the nearby woods. Harry, his parents, his uncle, and his older cousin, Baruch, hid there for two years. They lived outside, foraging and sometimes traveling with partisans. Gertrude was pregnant for part of this time.
On June 22, 1941, German forces invaded the Soviet Union, breaking a nonaggression pact that the two countries had agreed to in 1939. After this agreement broke down, the Russians allowed Poland’s Jews to enter the country, including Harry’s family.
Gertrude gave birth after they entered the country. Harry’s father and uncle were soon drafted into the Soviets’ Red Army, while the government relocated the rest of the family to the Ural Mountains near Siberia. The train tracks were frequently bombed by the Germans during their three week journey.
Harry and his family lived in Siberia for three years. Life was difficult in the harsh cold and their food rations were limited. Harry helped take care of his sister while their mother worked at a nearby train station.
They returned to Poland in 1945, but their home had been destroyed and all of their family members who had remained there were murdered. They were reunited with Harry’s father while living in a displaced persons (DP) camp.
The family left Poland in 1946. They spent four years in displaced persons camps in the American Zone in Austria, until they came to the United States in 1950. Harry was thirteen years old when they settled in Washington, PA, where the family was sponsored and housed by the Jewish Federation.
Harry was placed into the eighth grade and his English teacher would stay after school to help him learn the language. After graduating high school he began attending Washington and Jefferson College, but didn’t finish due to the draft. Harry served in the Army National Guard at Fort Knox for six years before finishing school at Robert Morris University.
Harry married his wife, Patty, in 1962 and they had two children together. Harry was an accountant for a beef exporting company before starting his own successful export business in 1978. He spent his career running his company until he retired. He joined the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh during his retirement, speaking to school groups about his story and co-chairing the survivors’ organization for period of time. Harry and his wife now live in a retirement community in South Carolina.
More about Harry
Sharing memories | Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle
From survivor to storyteller, Harry Schneider is educating the next generation | The Post and Courier
Holocaust Survivor Speaks to Harrison Eighth-Graders | Patch
Remember Project Students Hear from Holocaust Survivor, Harry Schneider | Jewish Federation of Greater Charleston
‘We were the fortunate ones’ | The Daniel Island News
Holocaust Testimony Project assures voices of survivors won’t be lost | Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle