According to the Kabbalah, in each generation there are thirty-six righteous people who sustain the world and preserve humanity. These people are often unknown and obscure but they bear all the sorrows and sins of the world. They also appear and help ordinary people in times of extreme need. Their deeds are often unrecognised and unexplained. It has taken more than six decades for Sigi Siegreich to be able to talk to his children and grandchildren about his life in wartime Poland - the life of a privileged young Jewish boy who spoke six languages and had never even cleaned his own shoes. The invasion of Poland by Germany in 1939 changed his world forever. The Thirty-six tells of Sigi's miraculous survival and the good and bad he saw of life and humanity in Poland during WWII.

About the Author

During the War, we were expelled 11 times to several towns and villages. By the end of 1942, my parents and 167 members of my family were exterminated in the death-camps of Treblinka, Belzec, Auschwitz and others. I was enslaved in the labour camps. After liberation, I returned to Katowice, married Hanka, the girl who saved my life in the camp. Together we began to rebuild our life. In 1950, our families decided to migrate to Israel. Thanks to my childhood friend Adam Weis, we ended up in Melbourne, Australia. We found a truly free and democratic country where my family could prosper and thrive. Australia provided us with freedom and equality to live as Jews.