- Biography
- William Abraham (born Yisroel Wolf Hoffman, 1925-2005) was born on 1 May 1925 in Vel'ky Rakovec, Czechoslovakia (present day Velykyi Rakovets, Zakarpat'ska Oblast, Ukraine) to Mendel and Miriam Abraham Hoffman. He had one older sister, Tzivya (later Celia Wizel, 1923-2005). His mother died six months after he was born, and the family moved to his father's home town, Polyana, Czechoslovakia. Then, when William was only three years old, his father also died. William and his sister were then adopted by his mother’s brother, Meyer Dovid Abraham and his wife Toby Gottesman Abraham, and William and Tzivya changed their last name to Abraham. Meyer Dovid worked as a farmer in Vel'ky Rakovec.
In 1939, Vel'ky Rakovec was occupied by Hungary. Following the German occupation of Hungary, William, his aunt and uncle were deported by Hungarian troops to the Munkacs ghetto in the spring of 1944. They were then deported to Auschwitz II-Birkenau where William and Meyer Dovid were immediately separated from Toby. The following day, William was transferred to the Gusen II sub-camp of Mauthausen, where he was a forced-laborer. Both Meyer Dovid and Toby perished at Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
In early 1945, the prisoners of Gusen II were sent on a forced-march to the Gunskirchen, another sub camp of Mauthausen. He remained there until American soldiers liberated the camp in early May 1945. William returned home to Vel'ky Rakovec to find his house occupied. He reunited with his sister Tzivya, they decided to return to Austria. They went to the Bindermichl displaced persons camp where William found work with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. He stayed in the camp until September 22, 1947 when he immigrated to the United States on the SS Marine Flasher. He settled in Brooklyn where he learned how to become a baker and stayed with his aunt Rose Abraham Brownstein. After his sister Tzivya Wizel and her husband Simon arrived in the States, he moved in with them. Through a mutual survivor friend, Henry Fladell, he met his wife Helen Wagner (b. May 12, 1923). They married in 1948 and had three children, Judy, Michael, and Marsha.
