Born:
Łódź, Poland
January 23, 1926
Died: February 28, 2003
The eldest of three brothers, Bernard Gerszon was born in Łódź, Poland where his father Samuel ran a successful import business. The family had a comfortable home in the city and another one in the country. As a child, Bernard was not a victim of antisemitism but neither did he interact with non-Jews. His family lived in a close-knit and religiously observant Jewish community whose members protected one another from antisemitic agitators.
After Germany invaded and conquered Poland in September 1939, life quickly deteriorated for the Gerszons. The victors confiscated the family’s belongings, emptied Samuel’s warehouse and liquidated his business. In early 1940, together with about 160,000 other Jews, they were confined to the ghetto of Łódź. Because the family’s home fell within the ghetto’s borders, they did not need to move. Periodically, they withdrew some of the valuables they had hidden beneath the floorboards, risking their lives to exchange jewels for scraps of food. Bernard felt like a caged animal. “I would say every thousand feet you have a guard walking back and forth. One would walk this way and one would walk this way. There was no way out to escape. If you escaped, you got killed.”
Bernard’s father and brothers were deported in 1942, but he and his mother were able to hang on until August 1944 when they were sent to Auschwitz. As they emerged, dazed, from the cattle cars, a Jewish prisoner offered to help Bernard in exchange for payment from his mother. She extracted some of the money she had hidden in the collar of her jacket and handed it to the man. It was the last thing she did for her son and it may have saved his life. During his brief stay at Auschwitz, the inmate regularly smuggled him food. From Auschwitz, Bernard was sent to a satellite camp of Dachau called Kaufering. In the spring of 1945 he and his fellow slave laborers, many weakened beyond endurance, were marched to Ilach, another camp near Dachau. Those who could not keep up were summarily shot. American troops liberated Bernard on April 30, 1945.
After liberation, Bernard made his way to Belgium where he learned to cut diamonds. When he came to the United States in 1949 he put his skills to work, traveling widely and holding a succession of jobs in the diamond industry. In 1952, Bernard settled in Houston where he became a successful diamond broker. He married Gladys Sitt in 1955 and the couple raised two children. A member of United Orthodox Synagogue, Bernard died on February 28, 2003.
Parents:
Samuel Meir, d. in Holocaust
Luba Beker, d. Auschwitz, 1944
Siblings:
Moise Lieb, d. in Holocaust
Jaakov Aaron, d. in Holocaust