Biography
Moniek Szmulewicz (later Michael Salwen) was the son of Michaela (b. 1900) and Marjem Ruwla (nee Bartuszek) Szmulewicz (b. 1903). He was born on August 28, 1928 in Sulejow, near Lodz Poland where his father was a shoemaker. Moniek had two older brothers Szlama Laib (b. 1926) and Chaim Szmul (later Harold Salwein, b. 1925). The family at some point either moved or was deported to Lodz and became incarcerated in the ghetto. The family first lived on Sulzfelder Strasser and then of Siegfried Strasse. Moniek probably worked in the ghetto as a furrier. From Lodz the Szmulewicz family was deported to Auschwitz where Michaela and Miriam both perished. The three sons were sent from there to several other camps. Moniek arrived in Buchenwald on January 23, 1945. He was placed initially in block 56, and then probably moved to 66. He and his brothers were liberated from Buchenwald on April 11, 1945. After liberation Moniek registered his birthdate as being one year younger to more easily immigrate to the United States. He joined a convoy of child survivors, the so-called "Buchenwald Boys", who were Rabbi Herschel Schachter brought to Switzerland. The Swiss at first interned the teenagers in camps under military control before releasing them to the care of the Red Cross. The boys then lived in Felsenegg, on the Zugerberg, near Zurich where they were grouped in "families" and attended classes and vocational training. Afterwards Moniek and his brother Chaim (Harold) went to Goteborg Sweden and eventually immigrated to the United States in June 1947 on board the Drottningholm. Harold also immigrated to the United States, and Szlomo went to Palestine after the war.
