The Stable Boy of Auschwitz

Henry Oster was 5 years old in 1933 when the Nazis seized power. For the next 12 years, he struggled to survive the Holocaust, hiding his mother in the Lodz Ghetto, escaping a firing squad in Auschwitz, enduring a death march, forming a friendship in Buchenwald, and witnessing his friends’ deaths. He was liberated by General Patton’s 3rd Army and rebuilt his life in Paris. He came to the U.S. with no English, money, or education and built a life full of love, joy, and compassion. He passed away in 2019, one of only two survivors out of 2,011 Jews deported from Cologne.

Dexter Ford is a Contributing Writer to The New York Times and other major publications on history, politics, the Holocaust, World War ll, architecture, transportation technology and the auto, aviation, motorcycle industries. He also writes extensively on adventure travel, having flown with the Blue Angels, ridden a motorcycle through China, Russia, and the Andes, and swum with Manta Rays. Mr. Ford lives in Manhattan Beach, California and Higgins Bay, New York.