Michael Bornstein

Michael is one of the youngest known survivors of the Auschwitz death camp. Photos of Michael at liberation have been spotted on museum walls, book covers and film clips around the world and yet he waited more than seventy years to step forward and share his story publicly. He wrote Survivors Club alongside his third of four children, Debbie, a broadcast news journalist. Along the way, he and his family were stunned to uncover shocking details about his own survival that included a bribery scheme, untold acts of kindness by a German leader, and one perfectly-timed brush with illness.

Michael is a graduate of Fordham University in New York and holds a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics and Analytical Chemistry from the University of Iowa. He spent four decades helping to develop life-changing drug treatments for major pharmaceutical companies including Dow Chemical, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson.

Now retired, Michael spends much of his time shuttling between New York and New Jersey alongside his wife of fifty-seven years as they juggle soccer games, tennis matches, graduations and birthday parties for their twelve grandchildren. He also speaks regularly at schools, synagogues and business institutions, sharing his experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust.