Yoram Sztykgold was born in Warsaw in 1936. He was incarcerated along with his parents and older sister in the ghetto. Yoram’s sister was first smuggled out of the ghetto, and then Yoram and his mother were smuggled out as well in March 1943. Yoram described fleeing the ghetto: “They prepared us in advance for leaving the ghetto. I was told that my name is not Sztykgold, that I will receive a different name. They taught me how to behave in church, how to pray, and like a child – I repeated everything like a parrot.” Yoram was given a false set of papers and entered into hiding.
In March 1945 Yoram’s mother came from Otwock and took Yoram and his sister from their hiding places. Yoram’s mother brought him to the children’s home in Otwock, where he remained for a few years. In the beginning Yoram’s mother worked in the home and Yoram’s sister also lived there. Yoram’s father perished during the Holocaust, most probably in Poniatow.
After a short period of time Yoram’s mother remarried and left the home. In 1947, Yoram’s sister left the children’s home with many of the other children and immigrated, with the help of the Shomer Hatzair Youth Movement, to Eretz Israel via France.
Yoram left the children’s home in Otwock to live with his mother in Warsaw in 1949. In 1957 Yoram immigrated to Israel. In Israel Yoram married and started a family. He has two children and six grandchildren.