Max Wein - a man of five languages

Born in Germany to Polish parents, Max began his life in the turmoil of the early thirties. "I will always remember January 30, 1933," said Max. As his family was Polish they were not allowed to become German citizens and their passports had to be renewed frequently; by 1934, passports were no longer renewable. The family consisted of Max, his parents and a sister and brother, all of whom were taken to a Berlin hotel. The parents were both picked up by the police leaving three frightened children alone. Mom returned in 24 hours and in Dad 48 hours, only to have the whole family placed on the midnight express to Poland.

Accommodations in Poland were one room with no plumbing and yet his father managed to start a used furniture business. In 1939 his father packed up the family for what he hoped would be a better life in Krakow, not realizing Krakow would become the Ghetto. There all Jewish children over ten were require to wear arm bands, the older were made to work cleaning the streets. Over a short period of time, Max's mother lost her small son, and 15 year old daughter was taken by the Gestapo. "Through it all," says Max, "we always prayed."

Mom went to work in the ammunition factory and Max, who although offered a work there, wanted to stay with his father. Their job was to take the head stones from the Jewish cemeteries to make the sidewalks for Plashow Camp, about one hour from Auschwitz. Dad and he were put on a train to Grossrosen Camp and then on to Buchenwald. They were not given numbers as only those at Auschwitz received them. Max tells of the survival tactics of the prisoners. Someone would come in and ask who was a shoemaker and all 50 would raise their hands. His father did this when they were looking for a kitchen foreman. Max survived on the potatoes his father put in the cuff of his sweater, a place he knew they wouldn't look when inspected. Max said the most difficult part of this was the potatoes were raw and crunched very loud in the dark.

Life became even more treacherous when he and his father were taken on a Death March. Everyday they went 4-5 miles and were thankful to be alive at the end of each day. One night they ended up in a barn where he and his father were able to hide in a large pile of straw in the corner of the barn. They went as far into the corner as possible and when the Gestapo came in the morning and used pitch forks to poke the straw, they were safely deep enough to be missed. The march passed on and they eventually ended up in jail for 3-4 days. They were picked up on a hay wagon with seven Russians and two Germans. The Gestapo stopped them, killed the Russians. Max and his Father had no numbers so they were mistaken for Polish. The Gestapo allowed them to sleep in a barn and gave them a letter of passage.

Hungry and tired, they were walking past a field and saw a lady working so they spoke Polish and the lady in the field overheard and invited them to her room. She gave them a place to bathe, and food, and put hay on the floor for them to sleep. This woman was very religious; they could hear her reading the rosary so they mimicked her prayers. In the morning she said, "You are religious too." And they all answered, "Oh, yes." And in his father's quick thinking, he asked if she had a picture of Mother Mary for them to take with them. She gladly obliged and Dad put them among his papers from the Germans. On their way to Czechoslovakia, from where they heard they could get to Israel, they were stopped by Germans and as they looked through their papers the picture of Mother Mary dropped out, and they were given pass to go on.

The organization for Israel didn't want to take his father who was 41, only Max who was then 22. Max decided to stay with his father. Friends got them papers and on Christmas Eve, 1946 Max arrived in Chicago to begin life in the United States. He knew no English and he was hungry. He went to a restaurant and asked for a sandwich, and wouldn't you know the waitress asked, "What kind?" He looked bewildered. She said, "Hamburger?" He thought "Hamburg - I know the city, hamburger must be good." That was his first meal in the U.S..

Finding a job was another story. The first experiences of interviewing he was told they didn't hire married women or Jews. He finally worked cleaning and repairing carpets, among other jobs. The mentality of the times was if you had too many jobs you were a bum. When confronted with this Max, who was married and working to support his young family, laughed and said, "I am going to become a millionaire." The man laughed and shrugged. Max went into business with a man who also was in the carpet cleaning business. Eventually they owned five carpet stores.

Max came to Florida after leaving the carpet business and has put his ability to speak five languages to advantage for others. He is active in the Ben Gurien Club, and built Young Israel in Sunny Isles Beach. He works to eliminate anti-Semitism through lecturing about the holocaust, and by working with Christian Zionist groups, taking them to Israel. Max Wein, devout Jew and a man of faith, hope and charity of heart.

 

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