Children Survivors Arrive in Israel in 1945

It is impossible to imagine what it must have been like for a young boy (see arrow) to grow up in the Warsaw ghetto, and see his father arrested and mother shot by Nazis.

Now orphaned, young Uri was  smuggled out of the ghetto and hidden by Polish families.

Eventually he was caught by the Nazis and sent to Bergen Belsen. He survived that horror and was liberated two years later.

At age 14, Uri made his way to “Palestine” and arrived in 1945 by train and disembarked under the watchful eye of the British Police.

How would this traumatic childhood affect the boy?

He grew up to become a prolific author of over 30 children’s books (with Holocaust or Israel themes) translated into 36 languages. In 1996 he won the prestigious international Hans Christian Andersen Award for his “lasting contribution to children’s literature.

Today, Uri Orlev is 88 years old. Read more about him here