Survivor from Czechoslovakia | Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen

Alex Gross was born in Czechoslovakia in 1928. He was deported from the Munkachevo Ghetto to Hungary. He survived Auschwitz, and for eight months he made weapons in Buna slave labor camp before being moved to Gleiwitz subcamp of Auschwitz. In the death march from Buna to Gleiwitz, only 1,000 of 20,000 survived. He was then moved by open cattle car at winter temperatures of 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit to Buchenwald. Only 2 of 120 survived this death march, and Alex was liberated there. He found two other brothers at liberation. Alex came to the United States on the Queen Mary in December 1949 after living in in three orphanages in England. He served in the United States’ army in the Korean War, and he speaks eight languages. He lost his mother and father in Auschwitz and his eldest brother in Bergen-Belsen, along with many cousins, aunts, and uncles. His three older brothers were liberated by Russians, and he had a sister who survived. He visits Yad Vashem every year.