Thomas Buergenthal with the soldier who realized that Thomas was Jewish and took him to an orphanage

Thomas (left), 6 months after liberation, with a soldier who realized that Thomas was Jewish and took him to an orphanage, ca. 1945. Thomas was eventually reunited with his mother.

With the end of World War II and collapse of the Nazi regime, survivors of the Holocaust faced the daunting task of rebuilding their lives. With little in the way of financial resources and few, if any, surviving family members, most eventually emigrated from Europe to start their lives again. Between 1945 and 1952, more than 80,000 Holocaust survivors immigrated to the United States. Thomas was one of them.