Born on April 20, 1945, on the floor of a freight train transporting his mother and other Jewish prisoners to Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria, Mark entered the world during the final weeks of the Holocaust. His father had been killed before he was born. Mark, his mother, and three of her sisters survived until American soldiers liberated the camp on May 5, 1945.
After the war, Mark lived with his family in Germany and later Israel before moving to Chicago in 1958. His mother and stepfather, who had both lost loved ones during the Holocaust, encouraged him to pursue the educational opportunities they had been denied. Their pride when he was accepted into medical school became a defining memory of his life.
Dr. Olsky went on to practice emergency medicine and critical care for more than 50 years. His career included serving as an Army physician during the Vietnam War, directing an emergency medicine residency program, working as a hospital and clinic chief medical officer, and teaching generations of medical professionals.
In 2010, his youngest son helped arrange a remarkable reunion with two women who had also survived being born during the same wartime journey. Their families’ experiences became the subject of Wendy Holden’s internationally bestselling book, Born Survivors, and were later featured on 60 Minutes.
Now mostly retired, Dr. Olsky enjoys cycling, nature, and time with his family. He continues to share his story and his mother’s enduring lesson: surviving hatred must never mean allowing it to define who we become.
