PHILLIP MAISEL OAM August 15, 1922-August 22, 2022
Phillip Maisel loved life, he loved people, and he was an inspiration to all who met him. He died on August 22, just one week after his 100th birthday.
He leaves behind his twin sister, Bella, his two daughters, Yvonne and Michelle, and grandsons Nathan, Robert and Jason.
Phillip (Falk) Maisel was born in 1922 in Vilna (now Vilnius), the capital of Lithuania. As well as sister Bella he had an older brother, Josef. Their mother died when Phillip was 10 years old. In August 1940, the Russians annexed Vilna, and Phillip’s father was stripped of his business. The Germans occupied Vilna in 1941. Phillip and his sister tried to escape to Russia but were unsuccessful.
In September 1941, the Germans established a ghetto in Vilna. Phillip’s family had 20 minutes to move into the ghetto, leaving most of their possessions behind. The Nazis began to issue people who worked outside the ghetto with certificates that became a way to survive extermination. To save his life, Phillip’s father secured him a job as an auto-electrician.
After two months, Estonian troops liquidated the ghetto, and Phillip was arrested and sent to Estonia, where he was incarcerated in six labour camps between 1943 and 1944. He was sent to Stutthof concentration camp in Germany in August 1943, followed by Dautmergen and Frommern camps.
Read the article by Robbie Simons and Pauline Rockman in WA Today and The Age.