From Auschwitz to Du Pont

Born in 1927 in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Ivan describes growing up in pre-war Europe until the time of Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia and his own deportation to Auschwitz. After living through the ferocious occurrences of Auschwitz, Ivan and his fellow prisoners were led on the "march of death" before the advancing Soviet Army, but Ivan escaped, walking some 200 miles to Slovakia and becoming the first former Auschwitz prisoner to enlist in the Czechoslovak Liberation Army. After the war, Ivan enrolled at the Charles University Law School but was forced to flee the country due to the Communist putsch. He landed in the US and went on to work for Shell Oil, General Electric, and Du Pont. Since his retirement from Du Pont he has taught business management at the University of Maryland in Germany. After surviving fascism, communism, capitalism, and academia, Ivan is now happily retired. This is his Story.