86-year-old Holocaust survivor Morton Panzer moves to Israel
86-year-old Morton Panzer and his 82-year-old wife Carol moved from the US state of Maryland to Israel after 57 years of marriage. On August 25, the couple arrived on an El Al flight and completed their immigration process with the assistance of the Nefesh B’Nefesh organization, The Jerusalem Post reports.
The Panzers decided to settle in Israel to be closer to their family. Their daughter Jessica Hertel immigrated to Israel with her family in the early 2000s, while another daughter, Shoshana Lerner, moved to the country this year. Eight of the couple’s 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren already live in Israel.
Escape from Poland and emigration to the United States
Morton Panzer was born in 1939 in Tomaszów Lubelski, Poland, shortly before the start of World War II. When he was seven months old, the family left the town: his parents and older brother headed to the Soviet part of Poland, while Morton was initially left with his grandmother. Later, an uncle reunited the family and helped carry the infant through a forest near the German-Soviet border.
The family was later taken to Ukraine and then to Siberia, where it lived for about five years. Panzer’s father was sent to a forced labor camp, while his mother obtained food, including by selling belongings on the black market. After the war, the family returned to Poland but found no surviving relatives there.
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After about a year in Poland, the family moved to Austria and then to Germany, where it lived in a displaced persons camp under the care of the US Army. In 1951, with the support of a relative, Rabbi Moshe Bem, it emigrated to the United States.
A new life in Israel
In the United States, Morton Panzer served in the US Army. He later worked in government agencies, including the US Internal Revenue Service, and then spent about 25 years working on financial management systems for various branches of the US armed forces. He retired in 1998.
Carol Panzer graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, worked as an illustrator at a department store, and created advertising illustrations as a freelancer. In Israel, she plans to paint, study Hebrew in ulpan courses, volunteer, and spend time with her family. The couple is currently living with one of their daughters in Gush Etzion and is looking for permanent housing.
According to the publication, more than 1,100 people from North America immigrated to Israel through Nefesh B’Nefesh in August, setting a monthly record for the organization.
