Ernest W. Michel (1923–2016)

Ernest W. Michel was born to a Jewish family in Mannheim, Germany, the son of Frieda and Otto Michel, a cigarette manufacturer. He had a sister, Lotte, who was five years younger. At age 13, he was banned from attending school by the Nazis. At first, he worked at a cardboard packaging factory, but after the November 1938 pogrom known as Kristallnacht, he lost that job. Lotte was able to go to France on the a Kindertransport, but Ernest's efforts to leave the country were unsuccessful. His father obtained an apprenticeship for him as a calligrapher. In 1939, when he was 15, Ernest was separated from his family by the Nazis and deported to the concentration camp at Fürstenwalde -- he never saw his parents and grandparents again. Later he was sent to many other slave labor camps and to the death camp at Auschwitz. One day he wound up in the camp hospital, where his good penmanship helped save his life: he was given the job of filling out death certificates. In January 1945, he was sent on the forced death march westward to escape the approaching Red Army. He reached Buchenwald, where he was selected for mining work in Berga. In April 1945, Berga, too, was evacuated, and Ernest and some other prisoners escaped from the column of that forced march. After spending three days in the forest, they found work on farms until they were liberated by the Allies. After the war, Ernest worked as a special correspondent for the German General News Agency. He reported on the Nuremberg war criminals trials, sitting just feet away from the heads of the Third Reich. In 1946, he emigrated to the USA with the help of the United Jewish Appeal, and the following year, joined the staff of the organization. He rose to become its executive vice president from 1970 to 1989 and oversaw the merger that created the UJA-Federation of New York, which he served as CEO. He also was the chairman of the 1981 World Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors in Israel, bringing together 6,000 survivors and their families from across the world, and an acclaimed public speaker. He married Suzanne Stein, with whom he had three children. His autobiography, Promises to Keep: One Man's Journey Against Incredible Odds, was first published in 1993. He was a founding trustee of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan.