Holocaust Survivor, 87, Shares His Story Across America

When George Rishfeld was just three years old, his parents made an impossible choice. They threw him over a barbed-wire fence in Nazi-occupied Poland, into the arms of a Christian family who would keep him safe.

"A million and a half children were murdered, and I wasn't one of them," Rishfeld said at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony Sunday in Atlanta.

The Rishfeld family had escaped their home in Warsaw to Russia-occupied Vilna. When German forces seized the city, they were forced into a ghetto with thousands of other Jewish families.

Facing capture by Nazi soldiers, Rishfeld's parents hurled their young son over the fence. He lived with his rescuers for three years, until his parents survived the war and found him again.

Rishfeld was one of six Holocaust survivors who shared their stories at Atlanta's Memorial to the Six Million at Greenwood Cemetery. The monument honors the six million Jews killed during the Holocaust in the 1930s and 40s.

"My parents made a decision that no matter what happens to them, they're going to save me," he said. "As it happens, they both survived."

Why This Inspires

At 87, Rishfeld travels to ceremonies and schools across America, sharing his family's story of impossible courage. He sees his survival as carrying a purpose larger than himself.

"I feel I was saved not only to do that, but to tell the story," he said. With rising antisemitism around the world, his message feels urgent. "We've got to lower the flame. We have to get it under control, and that's my goal."

The Memorial to the Six Million was built 61 years ago by a Holocaust survivor who recognized the need for a place to honor those murdered by the Nazis. Today, it stands as a reminder of both humanity's darkest moments and its brightest acts of courage.

"I share this story because we have to prevent it from ever happening again," Rishfeld said.

One man's story, told thousands of times, keeping memory and hope alive for future generations.