Lucky Kids To Meet Holocaust Survivor

Earl Greif will speak to Palm Springs students who will visit the Holocaust Memorial Project. 

Earl Was In The Camps

Sixteen year-old Earl Greif was sent to a starvation camp in Poland during World War II with his parents, his 10 year-old brother Lou, and his 6 year-old baby sister. 

 
 

Nazis Execute His Baby Sister

In April of 1943, the Nazi Gestapo began clearing out the camp, preparing to move on.  They shot his 6 yr old sister, and parents, in a ditch along with hundreds of other prisoners.  

Two Boys Hide In Ovens

Sixteen year-old Earl and ten year-old Lou crawled unnoticed into an oven, and hid through the day and night. 

He Lived On Bird's Eggs

They crawled out when things were quiet and escaped into the surrounding forest, where they lived for the next four months, surviving on berries, mushrooms and bird eggs.  They were frightened to emerge because they thought the Nazi's might still be around.1

They Worked On A Farm

In the fall, the chilling onset of winter forced them to move on, so they split up and each got work on a farm, pretending not to know each other. The boys worked on a farm by day and hid in the forest by night.

Little Earl Comes To America

 They escaped to the Soviet Union in 1945, and two years later, they reached America. 2