Dr. Mathew ‘Maciej’ Sikorski, a Holocaust survivor from Poland and author of “Innocence and Reality: A Miraculous Journey of Faith and Family During WWII,” will speak about his memoir at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 5, at The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.

The talk is free and open to the public. A discussion and book signing will follow the book talk.

Born in Poland in 1929, Sikorski was 10 years old when Germany attacked Poland in 1939. Before the age of 17 he witnessed the burning of the Warsaw ghetto and the horrors of life in a concentration camp. His father was taken into a concentration camp and murdered, and Sikorski and his mother were taken to a forced labor camp in Hameln, Germany, where they were able to survive the war.

After experiencing the destruction of his idyllic childhood and the terror of war, he immigrated to the United States in 1951 where he started a family, trained as a scientist and became a teacher.

A member of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Atlanta, Sikorski continues to be an active speaker and museum educator in The Breman’s Holocaust education programs. As a museum educator, Sikorski talks with students and other visitors, advising them about the importance of remaining vigilant in order to protect liberty.

Sikorski believes that “holocausts can occur in any generation and can happen to any group of people. We have to learn about and respect other peoples’ customs and traditions while we cherish our own.”

In addition to his work with the museum, he worked for 40 years in applied physics including a stint at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and he holds 11 patents. He earned his doctorate in physics from the University of Manchester, England.

After devoting his life to science, Sikorski decided to switch gears and tell the story of his tormented youth. He received extensive training through the Dale Carnegie Institute, Toastmasters International and the Southern Order of Storytellers.

On his book’s Web site are endorsements that include one from Liliane Kshensky Baxter, Ph.D., director of The Breman’s Lillian & AJ Weinberg Center for Holocaust Education, that reads “Your personal account of ‘Warsaw: Life Outside the Wall & Beyond’ was absolutely outstanding and contributed to everyone’s deeper knowledge and understanding of such a difficult and sensitive subject.”