Hersch Mayer Weinberg was born on January 1, 1920 to Schaja (b. 1885) and Chaia (nee Barber, b. 1887) Weinberg. He had three older siblings: Mordechai, Liftcha, Ester Malka (b. 1913), and four younger ones: Tzina, Rachel, Raizel (b. 1933), Shlomo (b. 1935). Before the war Mordechai had married Minda and had two boys Yitzchak (b. 1938) and Alter (b. 1940). Ester Malka married Yizchok Stiel, from Hungary; Liftcha was also married. In March 1941, the Germans established a ghetto in Krakow ghetto, and many Jews were forced to work in the nearby Płaszów concentration camp. Schaja Weinberg was incarcerated and perished there. After his death, Hersch lived with his older sister Ester and her husband Yizchok. Because they were officially Hungarian citizens, they were exempt from some of the anti-Jewish restrictions. Mordechai's two young sons, Yitzchak and Alter, also lived with them, as well as a teenage cousin Brandel Paneth [the daughter of Rav Josef (the Deijer/Ilanda rebbe) and Liftcha Weinberg Paneth] who was visiting from Hungary. In June 1942, the Germans conducted a round-up in the ghetto. Most of the extended Weinberg family was caught and taken to Belzec where they were killed. Afterwards, Ester and her husband moved to Bochnia with Hersch, her two young nephews and Brandel. They lived outside the ghetto by virtue of their Hungarian papers. In 1943, Jan Malec, a Slovakian smuggler, contacted them. He had been sent to bring Brandel Paneth back to Hungary. Malec worked for Ben Zion Kalb, a Polish Jew in Slovakia who was actively helping Jews cross the border into Slovakia. In 1943 Malec smuggled the Stiels, Brandel, Hersch and the two young Weinberg boys across border to Slovakia in wagons laden with vegetables. Malec brought them to his home in Kezmarok near the border. From there, Hersch and Brandel made their way to Dej, Romania where Brandel parents’ lived. Malka and Yitzchok went to Budapest. Malka placed Yitzhak and Alter Weinberg on the Kasztner train. The train left Hungary in June 1944 and arrived in Bergen-Belsen. After six months, the two brothers arrived in Switzerland.
After the war, Hersch Mayer immigrated to Palestine where he worked as a diamond cutter and married Rivke Kupfer. Their daughter Shprinza (Tikva, Sabina) was born Feb. 1947 and their son Shaya was born in April 1952. A few months later they to London and then moved to Winnipeg, Canada, where Izak Stiel was working as a shochet. From there, they settled in New York.
