Sam Pivnik

Sam Pivnik (born Szmuel Pivnik; 1 September 1926, Będzin – 30 August 2017, London) was a Holocaust survivor, author and memoirist. He was the second son of Lajb Pivnik, a tailor, and Feigel Pivnik. As a Jewish family, the Pivniks were forced to live in the Kamionka Ghetto in Będzin from early 1943, and on 6 August 1943 the family were deported to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. His parents, younger sister Chana and younger brothers Meir, Wolf and Josef, were murdered on arrival. His older sister Hendla survived for a brief period before she was sent to be gassed.

Pivnik was registered in the camp and tattooed with prisoner number 135913. After a period of approximately two weeks in the 'Quarantine' area of Birkenau, he was assigned to the Rampkommando where he worked unloading newly arrived trains after the prisoners had been taken away for entry to the camp or gassing. This gave him access to food and valuables from prisoners' luggage and he was able to use this to keep himself fed and to bribe Kapos, prisoner-overseers and trusties.

On 27 December 1943, Pivnik was admitted to the prisoner infirmary in the Quarantine area KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau, B IIa, Block 9, with suspected typhus. He says that he survived several 'selections' and on 11 January 1944 was admitted to the main prisoners' hospital After a nine-day rail journey in which the prisoners were given no additional rations, Pivnik's group arrived at KL Dora-Mittelbau on 28 January 1945.

Pivnik was liberated by the British Army in Neustadt on 4 May 1945. Sam's memoir Survivor – Auschwitz, The Death March and My Fight for Freedom was published on 30 August 2012. He died exactly five years later in London on 30 August 2017, two days before his 91st birthday.