Names Not Numbers

Max Green

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (USSR)

In Hiding

1942

Max Green

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (USSR)

1942

Max was born on April 22, 1942, in Tashkent, the capital city of Uzbekistan, which was then part of the USSR. He lived in Uzbekistan with his parents until 1946, when they ended up in West Germany at a displaced persons (DP) camp after the war.

Max's father and mother were tailors from Lublin, Poland. His parents, along with his father’s parents, managed to escape to Uzbekistan and survive.

However, his mother’s family did not escape with them, and she was the only survivor from her side of the family. The rest of her family was sent to concentration camps and murdered. Poland was the first country the Germans invaded in 1939.

As Max was a young child, he does not remember much from the war, but he knows that it was hard both mentally and physically for his family.

From 1942 to 1946, although he was not directly involved in the war, the living conditions were terrible. They were under Russian rule, and being Jewish made life even more difficult. His entire family lived in one room, along with many other families sharing a single house. His father worked for a Soviet uniform factory and was drafted into the army, but his boss wrote a letter to keep him out of service.

Around this time, in 1942, during the Siege of Stalingrad, the Russians and Germans had originally agreed not to invade Russia, but that agreement was broken, and Russia eventually joined the war.

After the war ended, Max’s family decided to leave Uzbekistan, as living conditions were still too difficult. They went to a DP camp in Germany. His sister was born in the DP camp, which was operated by the American army.

The family stayed in the DP camp from 1946 until 1950, when they were finally able to get a sponsor and emigrate to America. They ended up in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It took several years to get a sponsor, but Max’s uncle, his father’s brother, was able to help them after a few years.

In 1951, Max and his family arrived in New York with the assistance of a Jewish Relief organization, which helped them find an apartment and his father a job. Max grew up on the Upper West Side and has lived there ever since.

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Names Not Numbers

Max Green

Max Green

The End