 Finkelstein has written of his Jewish parents ' experiences during World War II . His mother , Maryla Husyt , grew up in Warsaw , survived the Warsaw Ghetto , the Majdanek concentration camp , and two slave labor camps . Her first husband died in the war . She considered the day of her liberation as the most horrible day of her life , as she realized that she was alone , her parents and siblings gone . Norman 's father , Zacharias Finkelstein , active in Hashomer Hatzair , was a survivor of both the Warsaw Ghetto and the Auschwitz concentration camp . 
