Sheldon Griner

Sheldon Griner was born Szepsl Griner to Itzhak and Faiga (Scackaner) Griner on September 18, 1938 in Lublin, Poland. After pursuing an education in Paris, Itzhak became a merchant. He had a reputation for being an intelligent and progressive man. Faiga ran the household and looked after Sheldon, the couple’s only child.

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and German authorities soon occupied Lublin and instituted antisemitic policies and violence. Eventually, German authorities forced the Griner family and other Jews to move into the Lublin ghetto. As they were being rounded up and forced into the ghetto, Faiga, who was holding Sheldon, fell. Because she did not stand up quickly enough, one of the Nazis shot her. Although Faiga continued to walk with Sheldon, she died shortly after. Realizing the danger they were in, Itzhak decided that he and his son would go into hiding. They would hide separately in the town of Zamość, where Itzhak had grown up.

Sheldon was just a toddler when he was placed in hiding in a series of Polish households. First, he lived with a family. With the exception of a daughter who treated him kindly, the family physically and verbally abused Sheldon. Sheldon was moved several times. Because he spent his earliest years in hiding, Sheldon never played with other children and had to stay indoors and out of view. In many instances, he had to hide in small spaces where breathing was difficult. This included a barn with animals, an attic, a cellar, and a chest. Sheldon occasionally observed the activities of neighbors and Nazis from a window. He saw German authorities severely beat people outside and witnessed numerous other violent acts. These scenes instilled a lasting fear in Sheldon. 

Sheldon’s last hiding place was with a Polish couple. He remained in this household for several years. There, Sheldon received very little food, particularly after he witnessed the husband murder his wife in an alcoholic rage. Sheldon endured brutal beatings and verbal abuse, and on several occasions he was forced outside into the snow in just his underwear. Sheldon sustained frostbite and scars. 

In this last hiding place, Sheldon escaped three different encounters with Nazis. Once, Sheldon went outside to feed the chickens and rabbits, and a German soldier picked him up and placed a gun to his head. Sheldon patted the soldier’s face, and ultimately got away, receiving only a kick in the back. Another time, Sheldon saw a neighboring family eating pierogies. Because he was starving, he decided to enter their home to steal one. German soldiers arrived to remove him, and severely beat him. Finally, Sheldon once had to hide under a straw mattress where he could hear the man hiding him speaking to a German soldier.  

Throughout the war, Itzhak regularly risked his own life to visit his son at night. In the months before liberation, Sheldon, then 5 or 6 years old, remained hidden in a chest, with his arms folded and with very little air.  The man Sheldon was staying with denounced Itzhak, and German soldiers shot and killed him a few weeks before liberation. 

In summer 1944, the Soviet Army moved further into Poland and liberated Sheldon in Zamość. Soviet troops and Jewish soldiers entered the house where Sheldon had been staying. Sheldon, afraid to be outside, and too weak to walk, was carried out of the home by the soldiers. They drove Sheldon by truck to an orphanage in Pietrolesie (today Pieszyce), Poland. But, he was never adopted and had difficulty relating to other children. In 1946, Sheldon went to live with a paternal aunt. They lived in Wałbrzych, Poland (previously Waldenburg, Germany). Sheldon worked at a produce stand. During this time, the surviving Jews in Poland endured violent antisemitism and pogroms. 

In 1950, Sheldon immigrated to Israel with his aunt, uncle, and cousins. This family, however, treated Sheldon badly. After several years, he managed to leave. In 1954, Sheldon became an apprentice in a print shop and began to live on his own. Sheldon immigrated to the United States in 1960 and lived in Brooklyn with a maternal cousin before renting his own room. He found a job in printing. In September 1965, Sheldon married his wife Lily. They have one son and live in the Washington, D.C. area. Today, Sheldon is a volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.