Mineral Wells Index
—
Michael (Mike) Jacobs and his wife, Ginger, were guests of Mineral Wells High School Social Studies instructor Dan Neal on Feb. 15.
Mike Jacobs was born in 1925 in the small Polish town of Konin, a town whose Jewish community dated back to 1397. His given name is Mendel Jakubowiez who was a teenager during World War II.
Jacobs has written a book, "Holocaust Survivor." In this book he recounts his five years of confinement in ghettos and concentration town. His number is still visible on his arm that was given him by the Nazis because he was a Jew.
The book is written without hatred or bitterness but with the hope that readers will recognize that freedom comes within. The story does show what one human can to another when the wrong forces prevail in the mind, such as Hitler’s Nazi philosophy.
Over 80 members of Jacob's family were killed including his parents, two brothers and two sisters. Later another brother was killed when he escaped to fight with the partisans against the Nazis.
After Mike was rescued at the end of the war, he weighed 70 pounds but was able to gain the weight back. He studied physical education in Germany and taught sports to Jewish children before immigrating to United States in 1951. He moved to Dallas, taught soccer at the Dallas Jewish Center and then became well known for helping develop the sport of soccer in North Texas.
Jacobs also founded Jacobs Iron and Metal Company. He and his wife Ginger had four children. After retiring in 1990, Mike made it his goal to speak to young people about his experiences so they would never forget what happened during the Holocaust and that freedom should never be taken for granted. He also was instrumental in founding a Holocaust museum in Dallas in 1984.
Students were able to ask questions after a brief slide show and talk by Mike Jacobs.
