Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Esther Feldman Icikson - October 23 & 29, November 5 & 12, 2001

An interview with Esther Feldman Icikson, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Mrs. Feldman Icikson was born in Chelm, Poland ca, 1935. After the German invasion in 1939, the family was sent to several different cities in the Ukraine and White Russia, including Opalin, Lebivne and Giesen. At this time, her father and uncle were arrested by the authorities and shipped to a prison in Asino in Siberia. Esther, along with her mother and two sisters, was sent farther east to Sibiryak. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 her father and uncle were released under a general amnesty. The family was reunited in Asino, after Esther's mother took the family back to Asino via a home-built raft. At the end of 1942, the family was resettled in Kyrgyzstan, where they remined until they end of the war in 1945. Following the end of the war, the family returned to Chelm and then moved on to a DP camp in Ulm, Germany. From there they made there way to Israel, where they lived in Lut. Esther emigrated to the United States in 1958.

1. Introduction
2. Pre-War Life
3. Religious Life
4. Extended Family
5. Fate of Family
6. Memories of Pre-War Life
7. Relations with Non-Jews
8. Relocation
9. The Soviets
10. Arrested by Soviets
11. Conditions on Train
12. Fear
13. Asino
14. Knowledge of the Holocaust
15. Sibirak
16. Father Arrested
17. Hunger
18. Conditions in Siberia
19. Mother's Work
20. Death of Sibling
21. Father's Imprisonment
22. Attempts to Contact Father
23. Release of Father
24. Raft
25. Raft Trip
26. Trip to Asino
27. Conditions on Trip
28. Conditions on River
29. Reunited with Father
30. Reunited with Father (continued)
31. Reunited with Father (continued)
32. Ukraine
33. News from Chelm
34. Shtiebl
35. Conditions on Train
36. Memories
37. Sibirak.
38. Younger Sister
39. Police
40. Father's Imprisonment
41. Work
42. Nursery School
43. Knowledge of Father
44. Food
45. Grandmother
46. Conditions
47. Potatoes
48. Religious Life in Siberia
49. Horsemeat
50. Raft
51. Construction of Raft
52. Journey to Asino
53. Food
54. Length of Journey
55. Father
56. Father's Release
57. Reunited with Father
58. Stories of Prison
59. Mother's Religious Beliefs
60. Relocated to Kyrgyzstan
61. Trip to Kyrgyzstan
62. Srednia Asia
63. Conditions in Kyrgyzstan
64. Belovodsk
65. Knowledge of War
66. Recreation
67. Family
68. Letter to Stalin
69. Comparing Lives
70. Anti-Semitism in Kyrgyzstan
71. Leaving Russia
72. Train Ride
73. Beets
74. Poland
75. Becoming Ill
76. Chelm
77. Murder in Chelm
78. Brother-in-Law
79. Plans to Leave Poland
80. Leaving Poland
81. Journey to Germany
82. Ulm
83. Conditions in DP Camp
84. Recreation in DP Camp
85. Reunited with Uncle
86. Memories of DP Camp
87. Journey to Israel
88. Marseilles
89. Ship to Israel
90. Arrival in Israel
91. Ramat-Gan
92. Lut
93. Relations with Arabs
94. Life in Israel
95. Life in Israel (continued)
96. Journey to Kyrgyzstan
97. Religious Life in Belovodsk
98. News About Atrocities
99. Memories of Kyrgyzstan
100. Jewish Community
101. End of War
102. Return to Chelm
103. Immigration to Israel
104. Israeli Army
105. Sinai Campaign
106. Reunited with Uncle
107. Immigration to America
108. Detroit
109. Detroit (continued)
110. Work in Detroit
111. Meets Husband
112. Talking About Experience
113. Thoughts on Taping Stories