Holocaust survivor Sam Boymel visits with children at the Jewish Discovery Center in Mason. Photo provided
Sam Boymel, a Holocaust survivor turned businessman and philanthropist, recently visited with children at the Jewish Discovery Center in Mason.
Boymel entered a Nazi concentration camp in 1939 at the age of 13. His mother, three sisters and immediate family members died in the camp. Boymel was liberated by the Allies in 1945.
He lived in a refugee camp until 1949, when the U.S. agreed to admit 240,000 displaced persons. Boymel arrived in Cincinnati with his wife Rachel, also a Holocaust survivor, and child and $7 in his pocket. He knew no English.
Boymel, who supports Jewish causes both locally and nationally, would go on to found a network of elder care homes.
Boymel took special pride in visiting with students of JDC’s Chai Tots Early Childhood Center, said center representative Lisa Wachenfeld. The center is Ohio’s only Jewish Montessori school.
“Because he never had the opportunity as a child, it brings Sam great joy to support Jewish education for children,” she said.
