-
Period: to
Life Before War
Sam Gruber was born in 1913 in Pidhaitsi, Ukraine. He had a normal childhood and went on to graduate high school. He worked some jobs for a few years in Ukraine, but when he was 18 or 19, he was drafted into the polish military and served for a year and a half, -
Breakout of WW2
A few weeks before WW2 broke out, Sam was called into the reserves. While training, his unit was not aware of Germany’s invasion and were surrounded. Fighting broke out and Sam was shot in the arm and taken as a POW. -
Period: to
Taken as a POW
After being shot and taken as a POW, he spent a month in the hospital. After he was discharged he was sent to a Stalag 13, a camp in Langwasser. On the second day, Jews were ordered to present themselves, Sam hesitated but two of his polish “friend” pushed him forward and told the officers he was a jew. He was then transported to a work camp. -
Period: to
Life at the Camps
Because of his hurt arm, Sam worked in the kitchen at the camps. He also spoke fluent German so he helped in the offices. In 1941 he and the other prisoners were sent to a camp in Lublin Poland where they were forced to build a camp that would hold Soviet prisoners. -
Period: to
Harsh conditions and Fighting back
While Sam was working in the Soviet camp, a typhus epidemic broke out and many were forced to quarantine in a synagogue. However, a doctor Sam knew gave him a shot that saved his life. He was later assigned to work in a hospital office that distributed weapons and uniforms to soldiers coming from the front. But, he started to steal weapons and resources that he sold to Partisans. -
Period: to
End of war
His partisan group stole munitions, blew up train tracks, and fought against Germans until they were liberated by Russians in 1944. He was married in 1945, left Poland in 1946 and eventually immigrated to the US in 1949. -
Escape
One day, a polish man advises Sam that he should try to escape because they would soon kill everyone in the camps. On October 28th, 1942, he and 22 others whom he convince to leave with him escaped through Lublin forest. He was the leader of his Partisan group and changed his name to Mietek which was a common polish name.