By Lindsay Luberecki, Pine View School Class of 2025
As Harry Zehnwirth took a seat, I opened my notebook. He and I had already connected when I learned he was also on his high school’s newspaper. The atmosphere turned serious as we began our conversation.
Hearing Zehnwirth recount his childhood, it seems almost impossible that all the events he described could have happened to one family. But, all these events make up his family’s journey during the Holocaust.
“My parents worked very hard,” he said. “My father didn’t talk about his family, ever.”
Zehnwirth learned later in life that his father’s entire family was killed in Poland when World War II began. He was three years old. After losing contact with them, and hearing of the German occupation, Zehnwirth’s parents decided to try to leave Antwerp, Belgium.
“We went to Dunkirk [France],” he said. “We couldn’t even get a rowboat.” Zehnwirth’s family remained in Antwerp for another two years, and by then, the occupation had begun.
“A German general, who was not a Nazi … told my mother, ‘your name is on a list,” Zehnwirth said, recalling a fateful night. “We literally walked out of Antwerp, heading again towards Dunkirk.”
Unsuccessful again, they began to mail requests for any passports. “We managed to get Bolivian passports … I think they were falsified,” he said.
The family went to Portugal, and from there the family decided to try to get on a boat to Cuba, the last boat Cuba was to allow from Europe.
As he shared stories of his journey, he recalled specific days. One night, Zehnwirth and his family stayed in a hotel. Acquaintances later said to them, “Are you crazy? That hotel was full of German soldiers.” Zehnwirth said, “we were the only civilians. It was just a miracle.”
Another day, Zehnwirth’s family was in front of a restaurant, when a man insisted they couldn’t sit there. “We walked about a thousand yards, and as we turned around, a bomb fell and killed everybody there and cratered the whole place. And we were there, a thousand yards away,” Zehnwirth said, astonished.
Zehnwirth lived in Cuba until he was eight. His whole family learned Spanish. Later, when reminiscing about his mother, he recalled her knack for languages. “[She] spoke 11 languages fluently,” Zehnwirth said. “Even though she had no more than six grades of education, she was quite a scholar.”
When Zehnwirth was eight, his family moved to New York City. He spent the rest of his childhood in New York and attended the City College of New York, followed by Pace College. He went on to work in sales, including for Time magazine, before retiring and eventually moving to Florida.
Looking back on his journey, Zehnwirth was able to summarize how he and his family made it through the Holocaust: “The will to survive. Most people will do anything to survive.”
Multiple times throughout the interview, Zehnwirth stressed a few key takeaways for the next generation to remember. “It’s very important for us to know about history … what has impacted us to make us either better people or more careful people. The thing to take away is getting along with others, making sure you can help them out if you can, being honest, and [to] record everything you can so you can pass it down to the next generation.”
He echoed that last point at least three times. He urges us to sit down with our relatives, and record everything we can.
“It’s too late for me. I wish I sat down with my parents, and spoke, and recorded, and wrote down, and I didn’t,” he said. “Family ties are very important; you learn from everyone.”
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