MAX EISEN, Z”L

Holocaust Survivor, Author, Educator, and March of the Living Witness

Max Eisen z”l was born Tibor “Max” Eisen on March 15, 1929, in Moldava, Czechoslovakia, now Moldava nad Bodvou, Slovakia. He grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family with his parents, siblings, grandparents, aunt, uncle, and a large extended family. In 1944, after the Nazi occupation of Hungary and the deportation of Jews from the region, Max and his family were transported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In May 1944, after the first night of Passover, Max and his family were arrested and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was fifteen years old.

Upon arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau, most of Max’s family was murdered. Max was selected for slave labour, along with his father and uncle. Two months later, his father and uncle were taken away and never seen again, leaving Max alone in the camp as a teenager.

Max’s survival was shaped by a series of extraordinary moments. After being severely beaten and sent to the Auschwitz hospital, he was operated on by Dr. Tadeusz Orzeszko, a Polish political prisoner and camp surgeon. Patients who could not return to work were being sent to Birkenau and murdered, but Dr. Orzeszko moved Max from the stretcher and gave him work cleaning the operating room, an act that helped save his life.

Max survived the death march from Auschwitz. He was forced west through a brutal sequence of camps and transports, including Mauthausen, Melk, and finally Ebensee. He was liberated at Ebensee by American forces on May 6, 1945. After liberation, Max eventually returned to Czechoslovakia, where he spent three years in an orphanage before immigrating to Canada. He arrived in Quebec City on October 25, 1949, and later settled in Toronto.

Life in Canada

In Canada, Max rebuilt his life, married Ivy Cosman, raised a family, and later became one of the country’s most respected Holocaust educators. For decades, he spoke to students, teachers, law enforcement, community leaders, and the wider public, sharing his testimony as a warning against hatred, antisemitism, and indifference

Max became closely connected with March of the Living, returning many times to Auschwitz-Birkenau with students. Through these journeys, he helped young people understand the Holocaust not as distant history, but as a human story connected to memory, responsibility, and the future.

His memoir, By Chance Alone: A Remarkable True Story of Courage and Survival at Auschwitz, was published in 2016 by HarperCollins. The book was a finalist for the RBC Taylor Prize for Non-Fiction and won CBC’s Canada Reads in 2019, bringing Max’s testimony to an even wider national audience.

Max also gave testimony in Germany at the trials of former Auschwitz guards Oskar Gröning and Reinhold Hanning, both of whom were convicted. His participation in these trials reflected his lifelong commitment not only to memory, but also to justice and accountability.

In 2021, Max Eisen was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada for his contributions to Holocaust education and for promoting dialogue on human rights, tolerance, and respect. He passed away on July 7, 2022, at the age of 93.

“My first experience on the March of the Living was with my granddaughter in 1998. I was scared and nervous and not sure what to expect. I have learned firsthand that without history there is no memory, and without memory there is no future. This is why we need the March of the Living, to continue to educate and teach all future generations.”