Arye Ephrath

From Holocaust Museum’s Instagram:

Arye Ephrath was born in a basement as his mother hid during a roundup of Jews in Bardejov, Slovakia. While danger marked his earliest years, Arye chose to remember the strangers who rescued his family, rather than his tormentors. "Even though my story is told against the dark and tragic background of the Holocaust, I consider it to be one of inspiration."

A priest, a shepherd and his wife, and another family with barely enough food to feed themselves risked their lives to help Arye's family. To try to keep their son safe, Arye’s parents sent him to live with a couple with four daughters. They signed an agreement that Arye would legally become the son that Ján and Irena Mierni so desperately wanted if his parents did not survive. To blend in with the Mierni daughters, Arye dressed for a time as a girl and adopted the name Annicka. While the Miernis became the only family that young Arye knew, his mother could not bear to be away from him. She would sneak out of her hiding place at night, risking her safety to check on him.

After the war, Arye reunited with his parents and later built a new life in Israel. He immigrated to the United States and became a volunteer at our Museum.

He never forgot the Miernis or those who protected his parents. Even in the last weeks of his life, Arye honored them, supporting the renovation of a community center to be named for the families who saved him and his parents.

^ He died April 21, 2024 at the age of 82. ^