Mourning for Sally Perel: “Don’t forget who you are”

He became known as “Hitlerjunge Salomon”: Sally Perel survived the Holocaust by keeping his Jewish identity secret. He died in Israel at the age of 97.

Holocaust survivor Sally or Shlomo Perel became known as “Hitlerjunge Salomon”. His autobiography entitled “I was Hitlerjunge Salomon” attracted international attention and was made into a film.

Perel, who was born in Peine near Braunschweig in 1925, only survived the Holocaust by denying his Jewish identity and posing as an “ethnic German”. Perel was initially able to flee from the National Socialists, but fell into their hands while fleeing in 1941 on what was then Soviet territory.

His mother’s words gave him strength

In a film by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, Perel tells of the moment he saw his parents for the last time: “My father said a prayer and said: ‘Shlomo, no matter what happens, always remain a Jew. Always believe in God and he will protect you. Don’t forget who you are.’ I was 14 years old.”

Perel’s mother told him to leave so that he would live. At that time he cried a lot. As he grew older, he realized that it was only because of these words that he had the strength to survive – and to do what he did to save himself from the Nazis.

“The Shlomo in me was gone”

After his capture, Perel served as a soldier on the Eastern Front and took the false name Josef Perjell. He attended a Hitler Youth boys’ school in Braunschweig, where his transformation began. “Back then I became a Hitler Youth through and through,” says Perel. It went so far that he hated himself for being Jewish. “My transformation into a Hitler Youth was complete, the Shlomo in me was gone.”

After World War II, Perel emigrated to what is now Israel. In 1999 he received the Federal Cross of Merit for his efforts to promote German-Israeli understanding.