Baker was born Shaul Bekierman in 1927 in Chmielnik in southern central Poland.
Baker was a member of a group of Holocaust survivors known as the Boys, despite the fact the group consisted of over 200 girls.
The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after World War II for rest and rehabilitation.
Members of the Boys were held in Nazi labour and concentration camps and used as slave labourers. They had also survived World War II in hiding or as lone children.
Baker’s parents were Ksil Yehezkiel (b. 1900), who ran a mill, and Bluma Morowicz (b. 1902).
He had three brothers Shlomo (b. 1929), Haskiel (1931) and Shmuel (1933).
Chmielnik was a vibrant Jewish center with a large population. The town had a a strong Hasidic presence.
The Bekiermans were an Orthodox but not strictly religious family. Bekierman recalled that he did not like going to cheder, the Jewish school, and used to run away to work at his father’s mill.
A ghetto was established, and in late 1942/early 1943. Its inhabitants were deported to Treblinka, with only about 500 survivors in total.
Baker’s family was murdered at the Treblinka extermination camp in October 1942.
Slave Labour
Nothing is known about Baker wartime experiences other than he spent time in the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.
He was liberated at the Theresienstadt Ghetto after enduring a death train.
A New Life
Baker came to England in August 1945 as part of the first group of the Boys.
After some weeks in the Windermere reception centre, he was moved to a hostel in Ascot, opposite the famous racecourse.
The hostel was in Woodcote House, which had a large garden full of rhododendron bushes and belonged to a member of the local council.
Sidney Baker’s Journey 1939-1948
Pre-war Life: Chmielnik, Poland. Forced journey: → Deportation to Buchenwald concentration camp → Death march to the Theresienstadt Ghetto → Liberation at Theresienstadt. After liberation: → Prague, Czechoslovakia → Joins 1st Group of the Boys → Windermere reception centre, UK → Ascot hostel, Berkshire UK.
Baker later settled in Edmonton, Canada.
Baker married and had three children, and six grandchildren and worked as an importer.
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