Elly Gotz was born in Kovno, Lithuania, on March 8, 1928. He was an only child. In June 1941, Elly and his family were forced into the Kovno ghetto, where they spent three years. In the summer of 1944, he and his parents were taken to Germany by cattle car train. His mother was unloaded with all the women at Stutthof concentration camp. He and his father were deported to Dachau. There they were forced to work as slave labourers, constructing a giant bomb proof aircraft factory. On April 29, 1945, at 17 years old, Elly was liberated from Dachau by the U.S. army. Elly married Esme in 1958 and lived in Norway, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, before immigrating to Canada in 1964. Elly has three children and six grandchildren. On July 2, 2017, at 89 years old, Elly fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams….to fly. He jumped from a plane in celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday!