From Surviving the Holocaust to Leading New Life Solutions

It was 1942. Garmaine was only 16-years-old when she was forced to leave her home in Thessalonica, Greece, with her mother and five sisters, along with thousands of other confused and terrified families.  She had already experienced the cruelty of the Nazis as she watched her father being shot and killed in front of her by a German soldier.

The family was herded onto a crowded boxcar. They were told they were headed to Poland to be given homes and work on a farm where they could earn some much-needed money. The reality was, they would soon join many others whose lives would be tragically ended for one reason—they were Jewish.

They traveled for eight days with no food or water, and Garmaine’s baby sister died on the train in transit to Poland. The only comfort they found was in being together, but that would soon change. As the train arrived at the infamous Nazi concentration camp known as Auschwitz, Germaine was separated from her sisters and her mother. She would never see them again.

The Nazis killed 3,000 people in the gas chambers that day. Her mother and sisters were among them.

Germaine was in shock. She had just lost her entire family and was all alone. She was put in a group of 300 teenage girls. Their living conditions were unimaginable in Block 10. It was known as the “Experimental Block” because the young girls who lived there were used for medical experiments.

Soon, Germaine would be led into a small, dark operating room where she would be confronted with a doctor known as the Angel of Death—Dr. Josef Mengele. Without using anesthesia, Mengele began the surgical procedure to remove Germaine’s reproductive organs. He had removed one of Germaine’s ovaries when planes from the allied forces began a bombing raid. Mengele ran away to hide, instructing an imprisoned Jewish doctor to complete the surgery.

Instead of completing the surgery, the Jewish doctor made an incision but left her remaining ovary intact. As he stitched her back up, he made her promise two things: 1) that she would hide her cycle so no one would know what he had done, and 2) that she would name her first son after him.

Germaine kept both promises.

Three years later, the young woman was freed from her captors. She met and married Simon, another Holocaust survivor. Not knowing if she would ever be able to have children, the birth of her first son felt like a miracle. They named him Solomon (Sol) Pitchon, after the Jewish doctor at Auschwitz.  

The couple immigrated to America with two young sons and eventually settled in Clearwater, FL. Simon and Garmaine had four sons total, and they all live near one another to this day. They married and gave her eight grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

Germaine passed away surrounded by family in January 2018. Her story lives on to show the power of God to save lives.

Her Legacy of Life Continues

Following his conversion to Christianity in his 30s, Sol Pitchon earned a master’s degree in counseling from Liberty University and underwent a professional transformation. He operated several Christian pro-life pregnancy centers in Florida that still help women experiencing unplanned pregnancies. As a Christian psychotherapist, Sol also worked at a Christian psychiatric hospital before opening his own private practice. A few years later, he was asked to take over New Life Solutions, where he served as our CEO for 20 years.

“I am trying to connect the dots,” Sol said. “Abortion in the United States is our Holocaust.”

Germaine’s story shows that one person can make a difference that has a significant trickle down effect. Will you stand with New Life Solutions to help us protect the unborn, share the gospel, and transform our communities? One life at a time.

Click here to learn more about Sol Pitchon and his call to serve as the Pres/CEO of the New Life Solutions’ family of ministries.