Sol Berger Holocaust Survivor Sol Berger: Embodying

Sol Berger

Holocaust survivor Sol Berger: Embodying American values

Despite -- or because of -- his experiences as a Polish-born Jew, Holocaust survivor Sol Berger embodies the American experience. Berger, like virtually every American today, is part of the nation's immigrant legacy. Berger came to America seeking freedom, after fighting for freedom when he lived in Europe. Forced to hide his Jewish identity during World War II, he took on many personas, including a "Polish partisan fighter and a Russian lieutenant" (Abdollah 2009: 1).

Like so many Jewish people for centuries in Europe, Berger lived in a constant state of fear and was forced to conceal his true self and faith. His parents and two of his sisters died during the war, but he was determined to survive. He escaped on false papers under the name of Jan Jerzowski and had learned enough about Christianity from a priest he had been jailed with (when he refused to report to a work detail earlier during the war) to pretend to be a Christian. Unlike his siblings who had already immigrated to the United States, the young Berger knew nothing of religious freedom (Abdollah 2009: 2).

Berger fought for Polish freedom, but he could never relax into his new identity. Not only was he afraid that his mannerisms and his accent would give him away, even when "Jan teamed up with Polish partisans who fought the Germans by planting mines on railroad tracks and committing other acts of sabotage. One time he heard one of his comrades say that, although the Nazis were horrible, 'they killed the Jews for us'" (Abdollah 2009: 2). In contrast to the diversity celebrated in the United States, in Poland, identity was viewed in a homogeneous fashion. To be Polish meant to be Catholic, and Jews were widely persecuted even before the Nazis invaded the country.

In contrast to the ability to decide one's fate and destiny, a fact taken for granted by so many Americans, 'Jan' was at the mercy of fate. "In March 1944 the Russians arrived in Poland, and Jan was forced into the Soviet army" took a Russian name (Abdollah 2009: 3). Because of the many languages he spoke, a legacy of his diverse background, he was useful to the Russians. Berger contemplated turning Christian after the war ended but found the pull of his community to be too strong. He obtained false immigration papers with yet another name and decided to make a new home in Palestine. However, he instead ended up in a displaced persons camp in Italy (Abdollah 2009: 3).

Five years later, he was able to join his youngest brother in Lost Angeles. However, he never talked of the suffering he endured in the camps until he was a very old man. His brother advised him that Americans were an upbeat and optimistic people, and had regarded the relatively minor sufferings they had endured as very great, and did not want to hear the complaining of an immigrant. "These people here . . . they say, if you suffered, we suffered here too. We had to stay in line for gasoline. We had to be on a waiting list to get a car, and we didn't get any steak" (Abdollah 2009: 4). Like many new immigrants, Berger changed his name on his citizenship papers, this time to Sol. He worked at a series of jobs as a tailor (his old trade) and as a liquor store owner (like many immigrants, he was eager to go into business for himself). At age 57, he "became a top seller for Fred Sands Realtors in Beverly Hills and prospered" (Abdollah 2009: 4).