Solomon Perel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Solomon Perel
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Perel in 2016
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| Born | 21 April 1925 Peine, Hanover, Prussia, Germany
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| Died | 2 February 2023 (aged 97) |
Solomon Perel (born April 21, 1925 – died February 2, 2023) was an author and speaker from Germany and Israel. He was born into a Jewish family in Germany. During World War II, he survived the Holocaust by pretending to be a German. His amazing life story became a movie called Europa Europa in 1990. The film was based on his book, Ich war Hitlerjunge Salomon (I Was Hitler Youth Salomon). Solomon Perel also visited many schools to share his story.
Contents
Solomon Perel's Early Life
Solomon Perel was born in Peine, Lower Saxony, Germany. His parents were Jewish and had moved to Germany from Russia. When the Nazis came to power, they started to treat Jewish people very badly. In 1935, Solomon's family had to move to Łódź, Poland. This happened after their shoe store was robbed and Solomon was kicked out of his school.
Escaping the Nazis
In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Solomon Perel and his brother Yitzhak tried to escape. They wanted to reach the part of Poland that the Soviet Union had taken over. Solomon made it and went to an orphanage run by a youth group called Komsomol in Grodno. His brother went to Vilnius in Lithuania.
Joining the German Army
In June 1941, the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union. Solomon ran away from the orphanage. He was caught near Grodno by German soldiers. Solomon spoke German very well. He convinced the soldiers that he was an ethnic German, not Jewish. Because of this, he was allowed to join their army unit. He worked as an interpreter, translating between Russian and German.
Solomon became well-liked by the German soldiers. Years later, when he lived in Israel, he was even invited to a reunion of his old army unit. The officer in charge of his unit even planned to adopt him. This would have given him even more protection. Solomon was always in danger of being found out as a Jew. He tried to escape back to the Soviets many times, but he never succeeded.
Life in the Hitler Youth
Solomon was still a teenager, so he could not stay in the army. Instead, he was sent to a Hitler Youth boarding school in Braunschweig. There, he continued to hide his Jewish identity. He used the name Josef Perjell. At the school, he learned about Nazi ideas about race and took part in military training.
To keep his secret safe, he tried not to shower with other students. He would face the wall or wear his underwear. He had a girlfriend named Leni Latsch. She was part of a Nazi girls' group. Solomon loved Leni, but he was afraid to tell her he was Jewish. He worried she would tell the authorities. Later, Leni's mother found out his secret, but she kept it safe.
End of the War and Family Reunion
Near the end of the war, Solomon was made a soldier. He was told to guard a bridge. On April 20, 1945, the day before his 20th birthday, American soldiers captured him. He was released the next day because he was a new soldier and had not fought. After the war, he worked for a short time as an interpreter for the Red Army.
Solomon went back to his hometown. After searching a lot, he found his brother Yitzhak. Yitzhak had also escaped to the Soviet Union and was living in Munich. Solomon moved to Munich to be with him. He learned that his father had died in the Łódź ghetto. His mother was killed in 1944. His sister was shot during a forced march. He also found out his other brother, David, was alive in Mandatory Palestine. Solomon decided to join David. In July 1948, he sailed to Haifa in the new country of Israel.
Life in Israel
Once in Israel, Solomon Perel joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). He fought in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. After leaving the army, he became a businessman. In 1959, he married his wife Dvora, and they had two sons. Solomon did not go back to Germany until 1985. The Mayor of Peine invited him to remember the destruction of the Peine Synagogue.
Solomon Perel passed away in Israel on February 2, 2023. He was 97 years old.
I Was Hitler Youth Salomon
Solomon Perel later wrote a book about his experiences. It was called Ich war Hitlerjunge Salomon (I Was Hitler Youth Salomon). His book was made into a movie in 1990 called Europa Europa. He often traveled around Europe to give talks about his time during the war.
A Dutch writer named Carl Slotboom wrote a play based on Solomon Perel's story. The play was called Du sollst leben (meaning You shall live). It was first performed in the Netherlands in 2002. Solomon Perel visited the Netherlands to see the play.
See also
- Europa Europa
