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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoALTSRzXY4

-- Eliezer Zborowski was born in Zarki,near Krakow, on Sept. 20, 1925 (to Zisel and Moshe) . In 1939, at the war’s beginning, Nazis confined his family in a ghetto they created for Jews. Taking advantage of his fair complexion and forged papers identifying him as a gentile, Mr. Zborowski acted as a courier between the ghetto and other Poles opposed to the occupiers.

When the Nazis’ program to exterminate Jews and other minorities began in 1942, the ghettos were liquidated. Mr. Zborowski and his family were hidden by Christians in an attic and a chicken coop. His father was separated from the family and shot while trying to escape from a German work camp.

On 3 April 2012, a special event marking the publication of A Life of Leadership: The Life Story of Eli Zborowski took place at Yad Vashem. Speaking before a packed room in the Yad Vashem Synagogue, Zborowski's voice shook as he recalled his parents Moshe and Zisel, and the role models they were for him. Zborowski survived the war in hiding in Poland, and moved to the United States. After a successful career in business, Eli dedicated his life to Holocaust remembrance and education, establishing the American Society for Yad Vashem and leading it for 30 years. "During the darkest days of the Shoah, we all dreamt of Israel," said Zborowski (pictured). "How appropriate it is that the launch of my memoirs is in Jerusalem."

Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev noted that at a young age Eli took on the responsibility of caring for his family, and that sense of responsibility is a key motivator for him. "His commitment towards Holocaust remembrance is so deep that he is willing to say, 'naa'se v'nishma' [I will do, and I will listen]," said Shalev. "It has been his lifelong mission to commemorate the Holocaust."

Yad Vashem Chief Historian Prof. Dina Porat, Deputy Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council (and formerly Chairman of Yad Vashem) Dr. Yitzhak Arad, Eli's daughter Dr. Lilly Naveh (Zborowski) and Rabbi R. Yehoshua Berman of Bar-Ilan University, who is the son of the book's authors Rochel and George Berman, also offered remarks and spoke of Eli's dedication to commemorating the Holocaust as well as the prewar Jewish world. Eli's wife Elizabeth and members of his family were present. Dr. Bella Gutterman, Director of the International Institute for Holocaust Research, moderated the event.