GUSTAV BRAUN

MINERAL WELLS: Gustav Milan "Gus" Braun, M.D., died Sunday morning, October 24, 2010, surrounded by his loving family, after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease. Services: A service in the cemetery was held on Tuesday, Oct.26, in the Beth-El Section of Greenwood Memorial Park, Fort Worth, with Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger of Beth-El Congregation officiating. Memorials: In lieu of flowers, consideration of contributions to the United State Holocaust Museum, the Parkinson's Society, or a scholarship fund soon to be established in his name at the University of Michigan Medical School, is suggested. Gustav Milan Braun was born March 8, 1938 in the Hungarian city of Munkacs, to Solomon and Berta Braun. At age 4, Gus's father was taken along with other Jewish men to serve as slave labor on the Russian front during WW II. He never saw his father, a distinguished professional and violinist, again. Gus was sent to southern Hungary to stay with an aunt and uncle while his sister Vera, age 14, stayed with their mother. Before the family could reunite, his mother and sister were rounded up along with the rest of the Jewish community of Munkacs and taken to Auschwitz in the spring of 1944, where they were killed. His aunt Jolan and uncle Deszo Weiss became his family, and four cousins, Agi, Marta, Mari and Gabi, became his "sisters." A few weeks later, at age 6, Gus and his family and the rest of the Jewish community of Debrecen were rounded up and imprisoned in a brick factory. Eventually they were loaded onto cattle cars headed for Auschwitz. After a few days of travel, their train began moving backwards and stopped near Vienna. Later, Dr. Braun learned that a "deal" had been brokered with the German Nazi regime and he and the other Jews on that particular train were exchanged for trucks and supplies. Instead of going to a certain death at Auschwitz, they were kept in a series of concentration camps in and around Vienna until the war ended. Gus spent a year of his young life imprisoned and he endured horrific events. After the Russians liberated their camp, the young boy walked almost 300 miles back to Debrecen with his aunt, uncle, cousins, and several other survivors. Gus grew up in Debrecen, which, like all of Hungary, was under Russian control after the war. Despite having lost a year of school while in concentration camp, Gus excelled academically and was also musically gifted. In the fall of 1956, he entered medical school at the University of Debrecen. On October 23rd, the Hungarian revolution took place. Gus was involved in campus uprisings along with other Hungarian students. The Russians quickly quelled the revolution, but for a short time the Hungarian borders were temporarily unmanned. Gus and a friend took a train to northeastern Hungary and found a farmer who knew where the landmines were buried. They gave him all of their money and possessions and the farmer led them across the border to Austria where relief agencies were waiting to help the Hungarian refugees. Gus went to Cannes, France, where the Jewish community took him in while he waited for an aunt and uncle in Detroit to arrange papers for him to come to the US. During his year in France, he studied at university and learned French. On November 11, 1957, he departed the airport at Cannes, France and landed in Boston. When he stepped onto the tarmac, he kissed the ground and said "I've been reborn". He always celebrated his arrival in the US as his second birthday. He proceeded to Detroit to live with his mother's sister and her husband, who had immigrated to America before the war. He learned English by watching "Sing Along with Mitch" and Walter Cronkite and, as soon as possible, he became an American citizen. Gus was extremely proud of his citizenship. It meant everything to him to be in the United States Gus earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Wayne State University, then a medical degree from the University of Michigan medical school in Ann Arbor in 1965. He completed his internship at UCLA in Los Angeles and his residency in otolaryngology and facial plastic surgery at the University of Iowa. He was proud to enlist in the U.S. army and served as Major at Gorgas Hospital in Panama, doing surgery on soldiers from Vietnam. When not caring for wounded soldiers, he traveled to a nearby island and provided free cleft palate surgery for children of the Cuna Indians, who honored him for this great gift. After his honorable discharge from the army, Dr. Braun returned to southern California to practice medicine. He later moved to Harlingen, Texas, where, as a single father raising four children, he had a successful practice from 1978 - 1990. While there, he did charity work in Mexico through Rotary and was honored with the distinction of Paul Harris Fellow. In 1990, Dr. Braun relocated to Houston, where he was on the clinical faculty of Baylor College of Medicine and had a successful career at St. Luke's Hospital in the Houston Medical Center. In 2000, he moved to Mineral Wells, Texas, and practiced his medical specialty at Palo Pinto General Hospital until Parkinson's disease forced him to stop. Dr. Braun was preceded in death by his parents, Solomon and Berta Braun, sister Vera Braun, and two sets of loving aunts and uncles who raised him as their own: Deszo and Yolan Weiss and Max and Serena Brumer. Dr. Braun is survived by wife Dr. Gail Brothers-Braun, children Veronica Braun (Lee Nugent), Valerie Braun, Isaac Braun (Iva Braun), and Andrea Braun-Albalawi (Hassan), grandchildren, Anna and Daniela Braun and Sami Albalawi, other loving family members and friends, and many grateful patients. This wise, witty, kind and generous healer's life was an inspiration to all who knew him. Szertelek. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of GUSTAV BRAUN please visit our Sympathy Store.