Although Bawnik suffered, experienced hunger and beatings, while at the camp, he was not ready to give up. When Germans were at the verge of giving themselves in to the allies, Mr Bawnik alongside others prisoners found themselves at Baltic coast of Germany. While on the ship, it was bombed by Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters, who thought that the top SS officers were running away from them. The attacks left Bawnik with little hope of surviving. He confessed in an interview in 2016 that it was only a matter of time before they were dead. With the ship blown, he clung onto the rope and a fellow prisoner saved him. Later, some rescuers ferried them to safety. He would later learn that he was now free and no longer a prisoner. He lived for another 73 years, until his death from stroke at 92.
Born in 1925, Bawnik’s father died soon after, later, the family split. He would return to Lodz, and just then, Nazis took over. Although the Nazis fed them a lot of bread, his mother would still hide some for his children in the course of the week. The Nazis would take the young energetic people to work in the warehouse. Later, he would move to Gutenbrunn, in Poland, where he participated in building railroad tracks. Upon arriving at Auschwitz in 1943, he thought he had joined a better camp, although he had heard that prisoners were gassed to death.
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Mr. Bawnik did not stay at Auschwitz and would later move to Wesola where he learnt making bricks. He endured a 10-day trip to Dora-Mittelbau camp, which ended with most of the prisoners dead. The camp was later emptied and Bawnik and other prisoners were relocated to Baltic Coast. While on the ship to Baltic, most of his friends died. He also feared for his life. The British would later come and save them. He would move to stay in Germany where he united with his family. In 1949, he moved to the United States where he got married, and lived with his family until his death. He says he survived German attacks purely out of luck, and not because of God.
References
Sandomir, R. (2018). Henry Bawnik, Survivor of Holocaust and Inferno aboard Ship, Dies at 92. Retrieved from < https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/11/obituaries/henry- bawnik-survivor-of-death- camps-and-an-inferno-at-sea-dies-at-92.html>
