Mina Zuckerman

Millie Zuckerman of Livingston, New Jersey, peacefully passed away on August 9, 2020 in her 95th year of life, surrounded by her family. Born in Humniska, Poland in 1925, Millie, the matriarch of the Zuckerman family, was a hidden child of the Holocaust.

Her late husband, Abraham Zuckerman, a Holocaust survivor who was saved by Oscar Schindler, wrote of his wife in the Foreword to A Second Chance, Millie’s story of courage and survival, published in 2011:

“This is not just a history book. This is the living record of a true aishes chayil, a woman of valor in the words of King Solomon. Millie is the crown of our family, the source of love, the secret of why we are so blessed to have each other.”

When the war began in 1939 and for the next three years, Millie, her sister Anne, and her parents Sabina and Avram, were permitted to remain in their home in Humniska but with restrictions. They were required to wear armbands identifying each of them as Jews and to perform forced labor for the Nazis. Millie’s formal education was terminated. Avram kept giving Millie and Anne assurances that the Nazi occupation would not be long lasting, especially in the tiny village of Humniska which had a population of only five hundred families less than thirty of which were Jewish.

In 1942, life in Poland rapidly changed for the worse. Avram was no longer permitted to keep his grocery store open for business. The Nazis decreed that the village was to be freed of the Jews, all of whom were arrested and moved to Brzozow, a larger village where they were forced to do hard labor. They lived packed together in schoolhouses until they were moved to yet another town. On a Sunday in September 1942 the Nazis ordered that all Jews were to assemble the very next day in a stadium across from the town church. Avram resolved that his family would not go, sensing and fearing that they would all be executed. That evening Millie’s family escaped back to Humniska and sought refuge at the home of Michelina Kedra, a Polish friend and widow. Michelina, a long-time customer of Avram’s grocery store, was the mother of four children, including a daughter, Helena, who was a school friend of Millie. Mrs. Kedra often could not afford to pay her grocery bills and Avram would extend her credit so that her children would not go hungry. She never forgot his kindness and told him that if his family ever needed help because of the Nazi occupation that they should come to her.

Under the cover of darkness, the Mark family arrived at Mrs. Kedra’s home and asked if she could hide them for a day or two. Michelina agreed although never imagining that two days would turn into two years. And just as Avram had warned, the 1500 Jews who were assembled in the stadium were murdered on the following day. The Kedra family put themselves in great peril hiding Millie and her family as they could have been marked for death for harboring Jews. In a visit to the Zuckerman family in 1983 Helena recounted that “my mother had a dream that God told her to take Millie and her family in.” For two years Millie and her family never saw the light of day. Helena would often come to the attic to visit and help them pass the time.

When the war ended in 1945 and Millie’s family was liberated their new-found freedom came with mixed emotions and much trepidation. Although overjoyed to come out from hiding they had to cope with the loss of other family members who had not survived and the uncertainty of where they would relocate to.

Assisted by Russian officials, Millie and her family left their homeland for Hungary. As a token of their appreciation Avram deeded to the Kedra family the house that they were forced to abandon. Thereafter, they went to a displaced persons camp established by the United States in Bindermichel, Austria. It was there that Millie met Abe and together they reclaimed their lost childhood and began rebuilding their lives together. Married in August 1947, the Zuckermans emigrated with their newborn daughter, Ann, to America on May 29, 1949, a day that they celebrated as their personal 4th of July – the dawning of a new life in their beloved United States.

The Zuckermans never forgot those that were responsible for saving them. Abe and his business partners honored Oskar Schindler in many ways, including dedicating streets in his name throughout the numerous communities they built in New Jersey and the metropolitan area. Millie was instrumental in having the Kedra family recognized at the Avenue of the Righteous among Nations at Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.

Millie’s oldest daughter, Ann, recalled her Mom’s legacy of kindness and how she embraced the traditions of the Jewish religion. Millie’s daughter, Ruth, recounted that her Mom was her best friend. “Hitler may have stolen her youth, but she learned to treasure her life with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.” My Mom “encouraged us to dance and sing and enjoy all the good in the world. She was the best teacher I ever had. I learned from her every day.”

Her son, Wayne, remembers that his mother’s attitude was to simply do the best that you can. “There were no reprimands nor ever any commands. My mother never reminisced about the war. She lived in the present. She was a great lady who chose to make her family the focal point of her life.”

Millie and Abe dedicated their lives to remembering the six million who were murdered in the Shoah. They were generous supporters of Yad Vashem, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City and numerous other Holocaust remembrances, Jewish causes and academic institutions in their community and throughout the world.

Millie is survived by her daughter Ann and her husband Bernard Sklar, her daughter Ruth and her husband Steven W. Katz, her son Wayne and his wife Deborah, ten grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. Her wish for all of them was that they would only know peace.

Millie, like another hidden child, Anne Frank, lived her life not thinking of “all of the misery but of the beauty that remains.” She left a beautiful legacy that will endure forever.