Marek James
Marek James was born on March 17, 1939, in Radom, Poland.
When Marek was murdered at Bullenhuser Damm, he was just six years old.
In the summer of 1944, the James family was deported to Auschwitz, after being held at the Pionki forced labor camp near Radom.
Marek was assigned the number B-1159, which was tattooed on his arm. He was quartered in the children’s barracks, separated from his parents.
Marek’s parents survived the concentration camp.
After the war, they settled in Southern Germany, where they had another son, also named Marek, in 1947.
The family emigrated to the United States in 1949.
The second Marek James, who goes by Mark, lives in California with his wife and two sons.
In 2010, two more relatives of Marek James reached out to the association: his second cousin Helena Ben David from Toronto, Canada, and his cousin Guy Shahar Yames from Israel.
All of them regularly attend the April 20th commemoration ceremony in Hamburg.
Family reunion after 66 years:
Shelly and Helena Ben David (from New York, NY, USA, and Toronto, Canada), Sandra and Mark James (from San Diego, CA, USA) and Daphna and Guy Shahar James with their youngest son Yuri (from Israel) in the rose garden at Bullenhuser Damm, 2011.
Marek-James-Straße, a street in Hamburg-Burgwedel, is named in honor of Marek.