Born in 1936 in Budapest, Hungary. When he was in second grade, they were forced to move to a one-bedroom apartment with ninety-eight people in the apartment so crowded that people had to take turns to go to sleep, because there wasn’t enough space for people to lay down. Paul and his brother were sent to a children’s shelter that promised to feed them. Paul and his brother were among approximately 250 children in what Paul described as a kind of “camp.” But after a day, Paul escaped with his brother through a gap in the fence that enclosed the camp and returned to the overcrowded apartment.
Later in 1944, the Budapest ghetto was established. Paul and his family were evacuated from their crowded apartment and marched to the ghetto.
Paul, his brother, and his grandparents managed to survive in the ghetto until it was liberated by the Soviet Army in January 1944.