Osi Sladek shares his humble recollection of the horror of the Holocaust

BY CARINA JUILIG AURORA SENTINEL

As a young boy, Osi Sladek lived a relatively carefree life with his Jewish family in present-day Slovakia. But after the Nazis came to power and occupied his country, his world fell apart.

Now 87, Sladek spoke recently in Aurora about his and his parents’ experience surviving the Holocaust, which included being smuggled back and forth across the Hungarian border and eeing into the mountains with the Partisans.

Along with telling his story, Sladek spoke passionately about the importance of standing up for democracy and emphasized that it’s not something that can be taken for granted.

A longtime musician and performer, Sladek moved to Israel with his family after the war before coming to the U.S. in the 1950s, which he described as “the rst time I felt like I really felt free.”

“ ere’s no better place than the United States of America, no one can convince me,” he said to applause.