Abraham Stern briefly describes his life in Europe during World War II and then his coming to the United States and his success there. He was born in Łódź, Poland, in 1929, the youngest of five children. His family was fairly well off for the time period, as his father employed many in making textiles. Soon after the start of the war, he and the rest of his family were herded into the Łódź Ghetto; the family remained intact until 1944 when they were all sent to Auschwitz. There his mother died; his father was marched from there when it was evacuated, and he died en route. Stern and his older brother were taken from the concentration camp to work near Hanover, Germany; they worked in a rubber factory and later a munitions or rocket factory. Being too weak, they were among 35 inmates left when Germans marched all the inmates from the camp. They were liberated by Americans and nursed back to health. He visited the nearby Bergen-Belsen Concentration camp and then crossed Europe to find his three sisters living in Czechoslovakia. Together all siblings came to the United States, despite their lack of having a sponsoring family member here. Stern lived in New York City for a year, then moved to California, and there joined the Air Force in 1948. This brought him to Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter, South Carolina, where he met his wife Rhea. Her uncle had come from Poland to the United States, eventually leading other family members over. They were married and settled down to raise a family. He notes that he never encountered an anti-Semitic remark or attitude in Sumter, and he speaks fondly of America as being the land of opportunity where everyone can succeed. He speaks in broad terms of the German program of organized murder against Jews and others, and notes the psychological horrors of the times, remarking on how some could survive undamaged and some could not. Referring to God, he says he was first angry that such things as the Holocaust could happen, but then reflects on his need of having some sort of value system as he and his wife set about to raise their children.
