Holocaust Remembrance
I was born on November 3, 1919 to Doba and Simcha Blauner in Gribov (Grybow) Poland. I had seven silbings- Roman, Gitel, Adela, Tema, Sija, Zelik and Hadassah.
When the war started, I was 19 years old. I traveled across the border to Russia when the Nazis invaded Poland. Eventually I went back to my hometown to try to persuade my family to travel back with me, but they did not join me. Sadly, I went back to Russia alone again. Shortly after, I was arrested in Russia because I was an illegal immigrant. I was taken to a Siberian labor camp and spent two year there. When Germany and Russia went to war, a Polish division of the Russian Army was formed and I was placed in it. I was sent to the front line to fight against the Nazis. We defeated Germany and I survived!
After the war, I returned to Poland. I found out that only one of my siblings survived the war.
My brother Roman Blauner was the only one of my siblings to survive the Holocaust. He was liberated from Auschwitz. I also met my future wife, Rose. Rose and I got married in Poland and moved to Germany. We gave birth to our first child in 1946 in Frankfort. Our second child was born in 1948 in Stuttgart. In 1952, we immigrated to New York on the Queen Elizabeth II. We lived in the Bronx and had two more children in New York. We eventually moved to Yonkers, New York.
I worked as a successful business who owned my own real estate business. I helped bring needed social services to South Bronx, including establishing a homeless drop in center, schools and a vibrant community center. Last summer, a building was named in my honor to recognize all of my positive involvement in the community.
Sadly, Max passed in December of 2015. Max’s granddaughter described him as “One of the strongest and most generous men. He was a philanthropist that donated to all causes that he cared about (including social service agencies, his Shuls in NY and FL and many Jewish Organizations). He felt it was important to help those in need and was very generous to people he worked with as well as his family.”
Roman immigrated to New York after the war.
Simcha Blauner (Max Blauner’s father) before the war in Poland.
This is a photo during the war of Max Blauner fighting against the Nazis.
Rose and Max on their way to America with their first 2 children on board the Queen Elizabeth.
