Samuel Gottesman (z”l)


October 20, 1923 – June 1, 2019
Birthplace: Irsava-Ilosva, Czechoslovakia
Religious Identity: Jewish
“For some reason they needed 500 workers. My father was selected, but I was not. I went into the line with my father. They kept tossing me out of the line, but I knew I had to stay with my father, so I kept putting myself into the line and eventually they didn’t notice and I was finally together with my dad again. I can’t explain how. This is how we stayed alive.”
Sam Gottesman was born in Czechoslovakia. During the Holocaust he was in a number of different concentration camps and ghettos, including Ilosva-Munkas ghetto, Auschwitz, Wustegiersdorf, Bergen-Belsen, Hildesheim, and
Hanover concentration camp. Sam came from a family of seven. Of the seven, only he and two others survived the Holocaust. Sam described the place they grew up as “more or less a family town,” counting about 50 or so of his cousins within the community. After liberation, Sam immigrated to the United States in 1947 with his father. During his journey on the boat, he recalled buying a grapefruit without a clue of how to eat it. Sam settled in McKeesport, PA with some relatives and worked as a picture framer and salesperson.
“How and why you could not explain. It just happened. We survived.”
-Biography adapted from “In Celebration of Life: The Living Legacy Project” (2016)
More about Samuel
Sam Gottesman Biographical Profile | Echoes & Reflections
Oral history interview with Samuel Gottesman | United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, acquired from Holocaust Center of of Pittsburgh
Lynne Ravas and Sam Gottesman | Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh
Survivor Testimony: Passover 1944 in an Occupied Town | Museum of Jewish Heritage
‘Pockets Of Poison’ Still Exist: Holocaust Survivors Reflect On Pittsburgh Shooting | WAMU 88.5
Holocaust survivor speaks at Pitt | The Pitt News