Gatehouse to Hell

Felix Opatowski was born in Lodz, Poland in 1924. After the war started, Felix lived in the Lodz ghetto, where he would smuggle goods in exchange for food for him and his starving family. Felix endures months in the ghetto and forced labour camps before being deported to Auschwitz in the fall of 1943. Despite being a teenage boy, he would take many risks to take care of others during his time in the camp. He was liberated in Austria on May 9, 1945 by the US army and then worked at a US army base where he met his wife, Regina. Felix and Regina immigrated to Toronto, Canada in 1949. Felix died in 2017 in Toronto.