Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Bert Dan - November 17, 1982

Contents

An interview with Bert Dan, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Kay Roth. Bert Dan was born in Cluj, Romania in 1916. He served as a soldier in the Romanian army at the outbreak of World War II. After the Hungarians occupied Romania, he was arrested and imprisoned for a year; upon his release Bert was drafted into various labor camps and work details throughout Eastern Europe. During a forced march back to Hungary, he escaped with a group of other prisoners and was found by the Russian army. He was freed and eventually returned to Cluj. Bert began to work with Jewish committees helping to locate and assist Hungarian and Romanian Jews returning to their homes from Poland. He eventually set up a committee office in Prague, Czechoslovakia where he was reunited with his fiancée. They married after the end of the war and immigrated to the United States in 1949.

  1. Introduction
  2. Life Before the War
  3. Life Under Hungarian Occupation
  4. Being Arrested
  5. Being Imprisoned
  6. Being Drafted for Labor Camps
  7. First Experience in Labor Camp
  8. Treatment in Labor Camp
  9. Labor Camp Drills
  10. Forced Labor at a Military School
  11. Forced Labor on an Army Airport
  12. Life At Home During Leave
  13. Forced Labor Building Roads In Poland
  14. Hearing About Auschwitz
  15. New Officer Comes to Camp
  16. New Officer Comes to Camp II
  17. Jews Get an SS Officer in Trouble
  18. Marching Back to Hungary
  19. Yom Kippur
  20. Making Lifelong Friends in Camp
  21. Escaping During the March
  22. Assistance from Peasants
  23. Being Taken by the Russians
  24. Being Liberated
  25. Arriving Back in Cluj
  26. Confronting a Hungarian Civilian
  27. Fear of Being Taken by Russians
  28. Jewish Organizations After the War
  29. Going to Poland to Bring Back the Jews
  30. Visiting Auschwitz
  31. Meeting Two Jewish Women from Łódź
  32. Getting Help Finding Hungarian Jews in Łódź
  33. Freeing Hungarian Prisoners
  34. Freeing Hungarian Prisoners II
  35. Freeing Hungarian Prisoners III
  36. Lifelong Appreciation of Hungarian Prisoners
  37. Opening a Committee Office in Prague
  38. Finding Fiancée
  39. Getting Married
  40. Conclusion

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