About Philip

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Philip Bialowitz was the last remaining Polish Jewish survivor of the infamous Nazi death camp, Sobibór, where an estimated 250,000 people perished between 1942 and 1943. There, Mr. Bialowitz joined a small group of Jewish prisoners who overpowered their captors and freed approximately 200 of the camp’s 600 slave laborers. Mr. Bialowitz lectured frequently to diverse audiences in North America, Europe and Israel (including members of Israel's Officer Corps and Diplomatic Corps) about both his experiences at Sobibór and the continued importance of mutual respect among people of different beliefs. He testified at several war crimes trials. Mr. Bialowitz’ memoir was published in English (title: A Promise at Sobibór: A Jewish Boy’s Story of Revolt and Survival in Nazi-Occupied Poland) and in Polish (title: Bunt w Sobibórze). A curriculum based on Mr. Bialowitz’s book was developed for Polish schools by the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. After the Holocaust, Mr. Bialowitz trained in Germany to be a dentist but eventually settled in New York City, where he worked as a jeweler. He died peacefully, surrounded by his four surviving children, in 2016.

December 19, 2010

Review of my memoir in Library Journal

Xpress Reviews—First Look at New Books, December 10, 2010

A Promise at Sobibor: A Jewish Boy's Story of Revolt and Survival in Nazi-Occupied Poland
Bialowitz survived the Holocaust thanks to determination, intelligence, the kindness of Polish gentiles, and a great amount of luck. While his account here spans his life from young adulthood in pre–World War II Poland to his postwar life in the United States, the focus, and the most interesting part of his memoir, is his part in one of the most dramatic moments of the Nazi era. Imprisoned in Sobibór, a death camp in Poland, Bialowitz participated in the largest successful prisoner revolt of the Holocaust. That he survived both the revolt and the war as a whole, along with several siblings, makes his story a rare one.
Verdict: Many Holocaust memoirs suffer from the inclusion of historical-contextual material that is post facto additions to historical memory. Bialowitz, with his son and coauthor, worked assiduously to ensure that his story was told from a perspective contemporary to his experiences then and not based on hindsight. Overall, he succeeds, making this a worthy addition to the corpus of Holocaust memoirs.—Frederic Krome, Univ. of Cincinnati Clermont Coll.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousMay 1, 2011 at 7:30 AM

    Hi Mr. Bialowitz:

    I am so sorry I missed you in Orange County. I would love to hear you, and have my family hear you, if you make it to California. Please let me know if you have any West Coast stops planned anytime soon. If not, can I ask if you would autograph a book, and if so, where can I send it?

    Fred Judd
    fredjudd@aol.com (I don't get blogs very well, so please send me an email.)

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownApril 15, 2013 at 1:11 PM

    Dear Philip,
    I realy enjoyed hearing your lecture the other day at Gan Nahum High in Israel. Afther the lecture I came to talk to you and you told me to make sure your story will be told to the oder generations and I promised you that I will. I want you to kenow I'm going to keep that promise.You are an inspiring person with an amazing life story! Inbar Adani

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  3. UnknownMarch 14, 2015 at 12:48 PM

    Dear Mr. Bialowitz,
    I am a freshman in high school and I am conducting a research project on the Sobibor Uprising. I would love to speak to you about the uprising to further my understanding of the uprising and better my project's remembrance of the uprising.
    Sincerely,
    Jonah Packman

    You can reach me at jonah.packman@nicolet.us

    ReplyDelete

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