Munyo Gruber

Who is Munyo Gruber?

Samuel Gruber né Munyo Gruber was born in Podhajce, Poland. As a youth, Gruber belonged to the Zionist organizations Ha-Shomer ha-Tza'ir and He-halutz. When he was 14, Gruber went to Lwów, Poland to attend high school. After graduation, Gruber remained in Lwów for about two years. He then returned to Podhajce where he worked as a bookkeeper for a company that manufactured farm equipment and bicycles.

Gruber was drafted to the Polish Army when he was 18 or 19. He served for a year and a half in Tarnopol, Ukraine. Two or three weeks before the war broke out in 1939, Samuel was called into the reserves. While training in Nowy Sącz, Poland, Gruber's unit was unaware that the German forces had penetrated deep into Poland. The Germans surrounded Samuel's unit and fighting broke out. Samuel was shot in the arm and taken as a prisoner of war.

After a month in the hospital, Gruber and the other prisoners were transported to Stalag 13, a camp in Langwasser, Germany, near Nuremberg. On the second day, Jews were ordered to present themselves. Gruber hesitated, but two of his Polish "friends" shoved him forwards saying, "Here is a Jew." The prisoners were transported from Nuremberg to Ludwigsburg and then to Munzinger, Germany. Because of his injured arm, Gruber was assigned to work in the kitchen. Gruber spoke fluent German, so he also helped out in the German offices.