Mary Berg

Some people - especially Americans - may wonder why they should care about the Holocaust since it seems that only Other Nationalities (Germans, Poles, etc.) were Victims.

In reality American Citizens (Jewish, Catholics and Protestants) were Holocaust Victims and Survivors. I am talking about people who were American Citizens before and during World War 2 – not those that became Americans after the War.

Mary Berg (Miriam Wattenberg)

(Mary Berg and an Unknown Man in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1941 - as an American Citizen she didn't have to wear the Star of David Armband.)

Mary Berg (born Miriam Wattenberg) was born on October 10, 1924 in Lodz, Poland.

Her Father was Shaya (Sruel, Stanley) Wattenberg, a local Gallery Owner and her Mother, Lena, was an American Citizen whose Parents lived in Long Beach, New Jersey, USA.

During the German Occupation of Poland the Family moved from Lodz to Warsaw and were forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto by the Germans.  

Mary kept a Diary of her experiences during the War.

Because of her Mother’s American Citizenship the Family received special privileges in the Ghetto including better Food, packages from the US (from 1939-1941) and were removed from the Warsaw Ghetto by the Germans in the Summer of 1942 and kept at the Pawiak Prison shortly before the Grossaktion Warshau (Great-Action Warsaw.)

During the Great-Action Warsaw from July 23-September 21, 1942 the Germans deported 265,000 Men, Women and Children from the Warsaw Ghetto and murdered them on the Death Camps.

Mary Berg could hear the screams of the Victims and the shooting of the Germans from Pawiak.

In 1943, Mary and her Family were sent to Vittel Internment Camp in France for American and British Citizens.

On Marh 1, 1944 Mary and her Family left Vittel and were sent to Neutral Portugal (shortly afterwards many of the Inmates left in Vittel who couldn’t prove they were American Citizens were deported to the Auschwitz Death Camp and murdered.

She arrived in the United States in March 1944 at the age of 19.

Parts of her Wartime Diary were printed in Newspapers in 1944 making it one of the earliest accounts of the Holocaust written in English.

Mary was active in telling her story into the 1950s and then decided to protect her privacy.

She lived in York, Pennsylvania, married William Pentin.

Most people never knew she was Jewish let alone a Holocaust Survivor.

Mary Berg died in York, Pennsylvania in April 2013 at the age of 88.

January 27th is the 81st Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.