The lone WWII survivor of th ePolish town of Otwock, Simchovitch, then 18 years old, escaped at the behest of his father just before Otwock's entire population of 12,000 were slaughtered by the Nazis; he came to Canada after the war. Simchovitch has published a novel, a work of criticism, and seven poetry collections (five in Yiddish), most recently A Song Will Remain.