Larry Gochman {David Volz}
At 98 years old, Holocaust survivor Larry Gochman stood before family, friends, and his community at Temple Beth Am in Margate to celebrate a Bar Mitzvah nearly nine decades in the making, one delayed by war, survival, and an extraordinary life journey.
Now a resident of Wynmoor in Coconut Creek, Gochman was unable to complete a Bar Mitzvah ceremony at the traditional age of 13 because, during his early teens, he and his family were hiding from the Germans in a forest.
After surviving the Holocaust, he came to New York, where he built a catering business and a restaurant. Later, Gochman married Claire; they were married for 67 years and had three children: Barry, Rochelle, and Steven.
“I worked seven days a week up to 15 hours a day to build my catering business, and I catered a lot of Bar Mitzvahs, but I had not had one. I was involved in Holocaust Heroes and was encouraged to study for my Bar Mitzvah,” said Gochman.
Many of Gochman’s family and friends attended Gochman’s Bar Mitzvah, and others wrote letters of encouragement. An active member of Temple Beth Am, Gochman makes presentations at local schools and community organizations. He said it is important to have hope even in the face of tremendous difficulties.
Gochman was born in 1928 in Kozyan, a village in Belarus, where his father was a tailor, and his mother cared for the home.
When World War II began, Kozyan was under Russian occupation. In 1941, after Germany invaded the area, Jewish people were forced out of the town. At that time, Larry’s family and other Jewish families escaped with a small amount of food.
When Larry was 12, he and a group hid in the forest. While they knew how to survive, their situation was still precarious, and Larry’s role was to find food. Later, some of his family and friends, including his brother Murray, fought the Germans as partisans. His older sister Brenda, also a partisan, was killed in combat.
In late 1944, the Russians liberated Larry’s community. In May 1946, the Gochmans were among a group of mostly Jewish refugees who arrived at Pier 64 in New York to begin new lives in the United States, according to Gochman.
“I have always given it all I got, and I believe people should step up to the plate and give it their best,” said Gochman.
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