Interviews
Eva Ackerman | Original format: audio; OCLC# 51866377 |
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Eva Ackerman was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1926. Although an only child,
Eva was part of a large extended family, most of whom perished in the war.
Eva's parents divorced when she was young and she was raised
by her mother. Eva had a reasonably normal childhood, even after the war began.
After the German annexation of Hungary in 1944, Eva was separated from her
mother and sent to Zurndorf, Austria. From there she was transported to a
labor camp in Landsberg, where she was liberated. Her father perished in an
air raid shortly before the end of the war and her mother died in Bergen-Belsen. |
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Marton Adler | Original format: video; OCLC# 33345371 |
Marton Adler was born in 1929 in Volové, a village in Sub Carpathian
Ruthania. He was the oldest child and had two brothers and a sister. His village
was occupied by Hungarians in 1939 when he was ten years old. Marton's father
was conscripted into a labor unit in Russia from 1941 until the end of 1942.
Eventually the family lost their store due to the "Jewish" laws. The Germans
occupied the area in March of 1944 and soon after the family was deported,
first to a ghetto in Sokirnitsa and then to Auschwitz where his mother and
siblings were gassed. Marton and his father were sent to Buchenwald and then
to Dora where his father was killed. Marton was eventually liberated by the
British from Bergen-Belsen. An
earlier interview with Mr. Adler from 1985 is also
available: OCLC # 42199926. |
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Irving Altus | Original format: audio; OCLC# 52452306 |
An audio interview with Irving Altus, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Bernie
Kent. Mr. Altus was born in 1920, in Czekanów, Poland. Mr. Altus was the middle
child in a family consisting of five children, his mother and father, all
of whom perished in the Holocaust. Following the German invasion of Poland
in 1939, the Germans arrested Mr. Altus and shipped him to various labor camps
throughout Europe, including one in Königsberg, Germany. In 1942, Mr. Altus
was shipped to Auschwitz-Birkenau and assigned to an external Labor Kommando
approximately 50 miles from the main camp. In 1945, Mr. Altus was forced to
march westward towards Germany, eventually coming to Theresienstadt, where
he was liberated by the Soviets after one day. After the war, Mr. Altus returned
briefly to his hometown and then relocated to Munich, Germany. In 1949, he
emigrated to America with his wife and son. |
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Eugene Arden | Original format: audio; OCLC# 52452406 |
Eugene Arden was a corporal during World War II. Arden's military government
unit was attached the United States 7th Army as it travelled into Germany.
The unit was responsible for closing down Nazi Labor Camps and for establishing
DP Camps. The unit eventually helped liberate Landsberg, a sub-camp of Dachau.
After the war, Eugene and his unit spent the post-war period in Heidelberg,
Germany. |
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Szymon Binke | Original format: video; OCLC# 45257341 |
Szymon Binke was born in 1931 in Łódź, Poland. Shortly after the
Nazi invasion his family was moved to the city's Baluty district which became
the Łódź ghetto. In 1944 the family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau
where his mother and sister were gassed. Szymon was placed in the Kinderblock
but escaped from it to join his father and uncles in the main camp of Auschwitz.
Later he was transferred to a series of forced labor camps until he was liberated
in May 1945. |
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Eva Boros | Original format: audio; OCLC# 57175058 |
An interview with Eva Boros, a Holocaust
survivor, conducted by Kay Roth. Eva was born in Bratislava,
Czechoslovakia in 1932. After the German annexation of
the area, Eva's father began sending her siblings to
Budapest, Hungary. Eva was smuggled there in 1944; however,
the German invasion of that country prompted her to return
to Bratislava. In September 1944, Eva was sent to the
countryside surrounding Bratislava in order to go into
hiding. Following the end of the war, Eva immigrated
to Israel and then to the United States in 1969. |
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Irene Hasenberg Butter | Original format: video; OCLC# 31713792 |
Dr. Irene Hasenberg Butter was born in Berlin in 1930 but moved to Holland
with her family in 1937. In June 1943 the family was deported, first to Westerbork,
a transit camp, and then in Feb. 1944 to Bergen-Belsen. The family managed
to be included in an exchange transport in early 1945, using falsified Equadorian
passports. During the transport her father died. The rest of the family were
released and went to North Africa and later moved to New York City after the
war ended. |
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Bella Camhi | Original format: audio; OCLC# 56429688 |
An interview with Bella Camhi, a Holocaust
survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor
of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Bella
Camhi was born in Salonika, Greece, ca. 1925. Following
the German occupation of Greece, Bella, along with her
mother, father and three sisters, was placed in the Salonika
Ghetto. In 1943, the family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau
where everyone, except Bella and another sister, was
gassed on arrival. Bella was assigned to work in the "Kanada
Kommando" and her younger sister was placed in the "Kinderblock," from
where she was later sent to the gas chambers. Sometime
in 1944, Bella was moved out of Auschwitz-Birkenau, loaded
onto a wagon and later abandoned in an empty field. After
being liberated, Bella walked to Munich, Germany. She
later returned to Salonika and finally immigrated to
the United States sometime in the early 1950s. |
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Franka Charlupski | Original format: video; OCLC# 32214428 |
Franka Charlupski was born in 1920 and lived with her family in Łódź, Poland.
The Weintraubs were in the Łódź ghetto from 1940 until August 1944 when they
were transported to Auschwitz and separated. Her mother died in Auschwitz
and her father died in a labor camp. Franka and her sister spent three days
in Auschwitz before being moved to a labor camp outside of Bremen, Germany.
On April 7, 1945 this camp was closed and the inmates were moved to Bergen-Belsen
where they were liberated by the British Army on April 15. |
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Eva Cigler | Original format: audio; 0CLC# 57175198 |
An interview with Eva Cigler, a Holocaust
survivor, conducted by Eva Lipton. Eva Cigler was born
in Beregszász, Czechoslovakia in 1926. After the
Hungarian annexation of the area, Eva's family, consisting
of her mother, father, four sisters and one brother,
experienced increasing anti-Semitism from the Hungarians.
In 1944, the family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau
where her mother, father, brother, and one sister were
gassed. After some time in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Eva was
transported to an unspecified satellite camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.
From there she was sent to Bergen-Belsen where she was
liberated. After spending some time in a Displaced Persons
Camp in Celle, Germany, Eva returned to Beregszász
for a brief time. From there she went to Prague and immigrated
to the United States |
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Barbara Schechter Cohen | Original format: audio; 0CLC# 52971467 |
An interview with Barbara Schechter Cohen, a Holocaust survivor, conducted
by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn.
Mrs. Schechter Cohen, born in 1941, is child survivor of the Holocaust. Following
the outbreak of the war, Barbara and her mother were seperated from her father.
Travelling on forged papers, Barbara and her mother went to Austria, where
he mother worked. Following the end of the war, the two were placed in a DP
camp outside of Stuttgart Germany, where they were reunited with Barbara's
father. The family emigrated to the United States in 1946. |
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Simon Cymerath | Original format: audio; OCLC#
68810108 |
Simon Cymerath grew up in a close-knit family in Starowicea [Starowice], Poland. When the Germans occupied Starowicea [Starowicea], the family was moved into a ghetto and Simon was first sent to work in a local factory and then to work in a forced labor camp. Simon escaped from the labor camp with the help of a Jewish contractor and returned home to Starowicea [Starowice] where he went back to work in the factory. Soon after, the family was sent to Treblinka where his parents and youngest brother perished; Simon and two other brothers were separated and sent to Auschwitz. Simon survived Auschwitz working as a painter on a Monowitz work detail. In April 1945, the camp was evacuated and the prisoners forced on a death march that ended with their liberation by the Americans. After liberation, Simon worked several years with the American army, reunited with his only surviving brother, and immigrated to the United States in 1950. |
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Lila Denes | Original format: audio; OCLC# 36451405 |
Born in a small town in Hungary, Mrs. Denes moved to Budapest in 1940 with her husband. Her husband was taken to labor camps several times between 1940 and the end of the war. When the Germans occupied Budapest in 1944, Mrs. Denes had two small children, Judy and George. Using false papers, she assumed the identity of an unwed mother and was treated as such by the people around her. She was in Budapest when the Soviet army liberated it. Her husband returned soon after the liberation. Again using false papers, the family fled Hungary after the war and eventually settled in Detroit, Michigan in 1955. |
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Henry Dorfman | Original format: audio; OCLC# 50806481 |
Born in Glowaczow, Poland in 1922, Henry Dorfman was one of four children
in a large Orthodox family. Following the German invasion of Poland in September
1939, the Dorfman family continued to live in Glowaczow under an increasing
amount of persecution from the Nazi occupation forces. The family was relocated
to a large ghetto in Kozienice in 1941. While in the ghetto, Henry and his
father were separated from his mother and three siblings and used as laborers
on the estate of a Volksdeutsche (native German) aristocrat. Sometime in the
fall of 1942, the entire Dorfman family was rounded-up and put on a transport
to the Treblinka death camp. Once again, separated from his mother and siblings,
Henry and his father escaped from the train. His mother and siblings died
en route to, or immediately upon arrival at Treblinka. Following their escape,
Henry and his father hid in a barn and were given assistance by one of the
workers employed by the Volksdeutsche aristocrat. Later they served in a partisan
unit until the area was liberated by the Soviet Army in 1944. Henry remained
in Europe for several years following the end of the war, helping his father
establish two businesses in Łódź, Poland and establishing his own in Germany.
He later moved to the United States with his wife, Mala, whom he met in Poland
after the war. |
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Mala Dorfman | Original format: audio |
Mala Weintraub Dorfman was born in Łódź, Poland in 1923.
When the war broke out in 1939, Mala and three of her five siblings were sent to
live with their grandmother in the Kozienice ghetto. Mala worked as a nurse in
the ghetto until she was deported to Skarzysko where she worked in an
ammunitions factory for two years. She was then deported to Częstochowa where
she was liberated a year later by the Russians. After the war, Mala returned to
Łódź, married, and was soon reunited with her sisters at Bergen-Belsen. Mala
lived with her husband in Germany until their immigration to the United States
in 1949. |
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Noemi Engel Ebenstein | Original format: video; OCLC# 38750545 |
Noemi Engel Ebenstein, born in 1941, is a child survivor of the Holocaust.
In her interview she retells stories told to her by her mother about how the
family survived the Holocaust. Her father was sent to a forced labor camp
when Noemi was a baby. In May 1944, Noemi, her brother and mother were deported
from Subotica, Yugoslavia to the camps, first to Strasshof labor and then
to Moosbierbaum where they were liberated by the Soviet army. |
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Alexander Ehrmann | Original format: video; OCLC# 32948524 |
Alexander Ehrmann was born in Kralovsky Chlumec, Czechoslovakia, which became
part of Hungary in 1938. His family consisted of himself, his parents, two
brothers and three sisters. In 1944 the family was deported to a ghetto and
then to Auschwitz where his parents, a sister and her son were killed. After
the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto ended, Mr. Ehrmann was transferred from
Auschwitz to Warsaw with a labor group to salvage materials from the ghetto.
After spending five days in Dachau, he was transferred to Mühldorf,
where the inmates were building an underground aircraft factory. When the
camp was evacuated, Mr. Ehrmann and other inmates were put on a train and
moved back and forth in the unoccupied area until they were liberated by American
troops. After the war he was reunited with two sisters and his younger brother. |
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Anne Eisenberg | Original format: audio; OCLC# 58564641 |
An
interview with Anne Eisenberg a Holocaust survivor, conducted
by Charlene Green. Anne Eisenberg was born in Slatinske
Doly, in Czechoslovakia. As a child, she and her family
moved to Sighet. Following the Hungarian annexation of
Sighet, Anne's father and brothers were conscripted by
Hungarian authorities and sent away for forced labor.
In 1944, Annie, along with her sisters, mother and aunt
were placed in the ghetto in Sighet and then deported
to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where only her and one sister
survived. They were then shipped to the forced labor
camp Gelsenkirchen and then to Sömmerda. They were
liberated near Brno, Czechoslovakia in 1945. Anne was
then placed in a DP camp near Linz, Austria. Following
a return to Sighet, she immigrated to the United States. |
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Isaac Engel | Original format: audio; OCLC# 55895341 |
An interview with Isaac Engel, a Holocaust survivor, conducted
by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University
of Michigan-Dearborn.
Issac Engel was born in Zwolén, Poland ca. 1921. Following
the German invasion in 1939, Issac and his family hid from the
Germans in the village of Zileonka. Shortly there after, the
family was separated and Issac moved between local villages.
In 1942, Isaac's family left hiding and went to the town of Ciepielów,
where they were rounded-up by the Germans and either killed
on the spot or deported to Treblinka.
Issac was sent to Skarzysko-Kamienna as a forced laborer for
the Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft (HASAG).
From Skarzysko-Kamienna, Issac was sent to Gross-Rosen, Nordhausen,
Dora and Bergen-Belsen.
After liberation, Mr. Engel was placed in the DP Camp at Celle,
where he remained until 1949. |
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Eugene Feldman | Original format: video; OCLC# 57175283 |
An interview with Eugene Feldman, a Holocaust
survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor
of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Eugene
Feldman was born in the late 1920s in Glinka, Poland.
Situated in the Soviet zone of occupation after 1939,
Glinka was under Soviet rule until 1941. Following the
German invasion of the Soviet Union, Eugene and his family
were sent to the nearby ghetto in Stolin. During an Aktion,
Eugene, his father, stepmother, and cousin hid from the
Germans, escaped from the ghetto and returned to Glinka.
They left the village and hid in the countryside, following
a band of partisans through White Russia (Belarus). After
the war, Eugene went to Lódz, Poland and then
on to a DP camp in Freimann, Germany. From there he immigrated
to the United States. |
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Manya Auster Feldman | Original format: video; OCLC# 50499827 |
Manya was born in Dombrovitsa, Poland in 1923. Her family was orthodox
and considerably large, numbering close to 200. Following the outbreak of
the war in 1939, the Soviet Union occupied Dombrovitsa. Russian occupation
ended however in 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union and Manya's hometown
fell into German hands. The Jews in Dombrovitsa immediately felt the effects
of German anti-Semitic measures. In August 1942, the Germans liquidated the
ghetto in Dombrovitsa and Manya, along with her father, brother and eldest
sister escaped into the forest. Her mother and her two sisters remained and
they were deported to the nearby town of Sarny where they were murdered. After
fleeing the Germans, Manya and her remaining family joined the Kovpak partisan
movement. Manya was separated from her father and siblings and spent the remainder
of the war hiding in several small villages in the region and serving in different
partisan units. Her father and siblings were killed in combat. Following the
end of the war, Manya was placed in a DP camp in Berlin. She then emigrated
to the United States. |
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Lily Fenster | Original format: audio; OCLC# 55803082 |
An interview with Lily Fenster, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney
Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Lily Fenster
was born in Warsaw Poland in 1926. After the German invasion of Poland, Lily,
along with her mother, father and five sisters, was placed in the Warsaw Ghetto.
After some time, Lily was able to escape from the ghetto, leaving her family behind.
In the ghetto, her four sisters died from hunger and her father disappeared. After
making her way to Łuków Podlaski, Lily was able to work on a farm
and raised enough money to have her mother smuggled from the ghetto. Within six
weeks of the reunion, Lily's mother was deported to Treblinka. Lily, having obtained
a Kennkarte, and hiding among the Gentile population was able to evade capture.
After her mother's deportation, Lily moved into the main city of Łuków
Podlaski, where she obtained work as a nurse, until the Russian liberation. While
in Łuków Podlaski she met her future husband. After the war, Lily,
along with several others, made her way to Łódź and then on to
Germany. She emigrated to the United States in 1951. |
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Fred Ferber | Original format: audio; OCLC# 50504347 |
Fred Ferber was born in 1930 in Swietchlowice,
Poland in 1930. In 1933, the Ferber family re-located to Chorzow, Poland and
then on to Kraków, Poland ca. 1936. Following the German invasion, the Ferbers
were forced into the Kraków Ghetto located in Podgorze. In 1943, the family
was rounded-up and sent to the Płaszów forced labor camp on the outskirts
of Kraków. While in Płaszów, Fred's father was murdered by the camp's Kommandant,
Amon Goethe. Fred worked in the metal and fabric shops in the camp while his
mother worked in a labor detail. Fred's brother was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau
where he died. Fred was separated from his mother when he was transferred
with a number of other prisoners to the Mauthausen forced labor camp in Austria.
From there, he was transferred to Gusen II and then to Gunskirchen (both sub-camps
of Mauthausen). He was liberated by the American Army in May 1945. Following
liberation and a short stay in a Displaced Persons Camp where he recuperated
from typhus and dysentery, he returned to Poland to find his family. He was
reunited with his mother in Sopot, Poland. After finding his mother and learning
the fate of his brother, he moved around Europe until the late 1940s, when
he immigrated to America. While in America, Fred stayed in an orphanage in
San Francisco while attending school and college. |
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Miriam Monczyk-Laczkowska Ferber | Original format: audio; OCLC# 50640610 |
Miriam Monczyk-Laczkowska Ferber was born
in 1942, in Sosnowiec, Poland. In 1942, Miriam and her family were moved to
the Srodula ghetto on the outskirts of Sosnowiec. The Nazis murdered Miriam's
father in the ghetto. Miriam's mother asked the Laczkowska family, prior neighbor
and Polish family to take the infant Miriam in until her mother could retrun
and reunite with her. The Laczkowska's smuggled Miriam out of the ghetto,
however, Miriam's mother and brother were deported to a death camp and likely,
were murdered upon arrival. Miriam spent the remainder of the war in the care
of the Laczkowska's. She was portrayed by the family as the illegtimate daughter
of the oldest Laczkowska child and raised as a Polish Catholic. Near the end
of the war, Mr. Laczkowska was deported to Gusen, a sub-camp of Mauthausen,
where he died of typhus. Following the end of the war, Miriam continued her
life as a Polish Catholic. While still a teenager, Miriam found out about
her Jewish background. As part of a program developed by the Lubavitcher Rebbe
to bring European Jews to America, Miriam was purposely seperated from her
mother and brought to America. |
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Charlotte Firestone | Original format: audio; OCLC# 49393106 |
Charlotte Firestone, born in Munkacs, Czechoslovakia, relates her experiences
in Czechoslovakia and Poland before, during and after the war. Prior to the
birth of her son in August 1942, her husband was taken to the Soviet Union
where he was imprisoned and remained throughout the war. Mrs. Firestone and
her son moved in with her parents. After the German occupation of Munkacs
in 1944, they were rounded up and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where her
mother and son were gassed upon arrival. After a short time in Birkenau, Mrs.
Firestone and her sister were sent to Stutthof, another concentration camp
in Poland, then they were relocated to Praust, a sub-camp. While in Stutthof,
Mrs. Firestone was made a Stubälteste and in that capacity, served as
a senior inmate in charge of the barrack. After spending six months in Praust,
the sisters were evacuated. While on the march west, they managed to escape,
evading capture by posing as Hungarian nurses. Later she was reunited with
her husband and emigrated to the United States in 1955 |
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Nancy Furdonski | Original format: audio; OCLC# 56429605 |
An interview with Nancy Furdonski, a
Holocaust survivor, conducted by Charlene Green. Nancy
Furdonski was born in Zlozew, Poland. Following the Nazi
invasion of Poland, Nancy, along with her mother, father
and several siblings, fled to the nearby town of Zdunska
Wola, where Nancy's two older sisters lived. Following
a brief stay there, Nancy, along with one sister and
brother, went to stay with their grandmother in Szadek,
Poland. After some time, Nancy and her family returned
to Zdunska Wola where they remained in the ghetto until
1942. When the Germans liquidated the Zdunska Wola ghetto
in 1942, Nancy and two sisters were sent to the Lodz
Ghetto and many of her other family members were deported
and murdered. Following the liquidation of the Lodz Ghetto,
Nancy and her sisters were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
After a brief time, they were shipped to Stutthof, where
her older sister perished, and then to Dresden. Following
the bombings of that city, Nancy and her sister were
sent on a forced march to Theresienstadt. During the
march, they escaped and hid on a farm near Karlsbad (Karlovy
Vary) where they were liberated by the American army.
After a brief return to Poland, Nancy immigrated to America.
Of her nine siblings, only a sister and a brother survived |
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Hilma Geffen | Original format: video; OCLC# 32948277 |
Hilma Geffen was born in Berlin in 1925 and was an only child. Her father served in the German Army during World War I and was awarded the Iron Cross. In 1931 the family moved to Rangsdorf, a suburb of Berlin, where they were the only Jewish family in town. Her father, an accountant, continued to commute to Berlin for work. A couple of nights after Kristallnacht in 1938, SA men came to the house and smashed the furniture. In 1939 the family moved back to Berlin because Jews could no longer own property. As Hilma was returning home after work in October 1941, her mother told her to run away because people were there to pick them up. Using false papers, Hilma went underground, living with a German couple who knew only that she was Jewish. She remained "hidden" with them until the end of the war, then moved to Miami Beach where she had relatives. Her parents were deported to Auschwitz and did not survive the war. |
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Erna Blitzer Gorman | Original format: video; OCLC# 30743770 |
Erna Blitzer Gorman relates her experiences as a child when she
and her family were in Poland at the time of the Nazi invasion and were unable
to return to their home in France. After living in various ghettos, they escaped
and were hidden for more than two years in a barn by a Ukrainian farmer until
the area was liberated by Russian soldiers. |
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Emerich Grinbaum | Original format: video; OCLC# 52971641 |
An interview with Emerich
Grinbaum, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor
of History at the University of Michigan—Dearborn. Mr. Grinbaum was
born in Munkacs, Czechoslovakia in 1930. After the Hungarian annexation of
Munkacs in 1938, Emerich, along with his father, mother and brother experienced
increased anti-Semitism under the Hungarians. In 1944, Germany invaded Hungary
and the Grinbaum family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Emerich’s
mother was gassed upon arrival and after less than a week in Birkenau, Emerich,
his father and brother were shipped to a labor camp just outside of Warsaw,
Poland. In August, 1944, the three were sent to Dachau. In Dachau, Emerich’s
father became ill and was sent to the camp hospital. During this period, Emerich
and his brother were sent to one of Dachau’s satellite camps, Allach.
In Allach, Emerich worked on several labor Kommandos, including the BMW factory
and as a potato peeler in the camp kitchen. While in Allach, Mr. Grinbaum’s
father was reunited with him and his brother and placed in a block for elderly
people. In April 1945, the three were placed aboard and train and shipped
to an unknown destination. While en route, the German’s abandoned the
train and the three walked to a nearby village where they were liberated by
the American Army. After liberation, they returned to Munkacs, now under Soviet
rule as part of the Ukraine. Mr. Grinbaum studied medicine under the Soviets.
He emigrated to the United States in the 1960s. |
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Joseph Gringlas | Original format: audio; OCLC# 52490397 |
Joseph Gringlas was born in
Ostrowiec, Poland. Following the German invasion, Mr. Gringlas was seperated
from his family and transported to a forced-labor camp in Blizyn, Poland.
After approximately one year, he was transferred first to Auschwitz-Birkenau
and the to the sub-camp, Monowitz, where he was reunited with his brother.
In 1945, the camp was liquidated and Mr. Gringlas was sent on a forced-march
to Gleiwitz and then on to Dora-Nordhausen, where he and his brother were
liberated. After the war, Mr. Gringlas spent several years in Landsberg, Germany,
emigrating to the United States in 1951. |
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Jack Gun | Original format: video; OCLC# 51670946 |
Jack Gun was born in Rozhishche, Poland, where he lived with his father, mother and older brother and sister. Rozhishche was later annexed into the Ukraine by the Soviets at the outbreak of the war in September 1939. With the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Gun family was forced to move into a make-shift ghetto in the city where they were used as forced laborers. In August of 1942, the ghetto was liquidated by the Germans and Jack's father, mother and sister were killed. Jack and his brother managed to flee and received help from their father's non-Jewish friend. Upon this man's urging, Jack and his brother hid first in the woods and then in a bunker they dug in a field. After several near-misses with the occupation authorities, the two were hidden in a non-Jewish Ukrainian household where they remained until the Russians liberated the Ukraine in 1944. |
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Werner Hasenberg | Original format: video; OCLC# 45257480 |
Mr. Hasenberg was born in Germany and relates his experiences growing up under the Nazi regime until his family moved to Amsterdam, Holland in 1937. In June of 1943 the family was deported to Westerbork, a transit camp, and then to Bergen-Belsen in Feb. 1944. The family managed to be included in an exchange transport in January 1945 using Ecuadorian papers made available by a family friend in Sweden. During the transport, Mr. Hasenberg's father died. After arriving in Switzerland, the rest of the family were released and briefly separated until they were reunited in New York in 1946. |
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Esther Feldman Icikson | Original format: audio; OCLC# 55803327 |
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. |
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Lanka Ilkow | Original format: audio; OCLC# 47933303 |
An interview with Lanka Ilkow,
a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky,
Professor of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn.
Lanka Ilkow was born in Novoseliza, Czechoslovakia (Ukraine)
in 1920. Following the Hungarian annexation of parts
of Slovakia, she and her family lived under Hungarian
rule. In 1944, the family was shipped to a ghetto in
Ungvar. From there they were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau
where her father was gassed upon arrival. While in Auschwitz,
Lanka's mother was later "selected" for extermination
and Lanka and her sister were sent to the forced labor
camp Hundsfeld, near Breslau. From there they were shipped
to Gross Rosen, Mauthausen and finally, Bergen-Belsen,
where the British army liberated them. |
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David Kahan | Original format: video; OCLC# 47933303 |
Born in 1928, in Gheorgheni, Romania, David Kahan was part of a large extended
family, consisting of his mother, father, several siblings, aunts, uncles
and cousins. In April 1944, the Germans invaded Hungary and immediately began
the full-scale persecution of Hungarian Jewry. The Kahan family was detained
by Hungarian Gendarmerie and placed in a school room for several days. After
their initial detainment, the family was shipped to an ad hoc ghetto in Szaszregen.
The family remained incarcerated in a brick factory in Szaszregen for approximately
four weeks and were then shipped to Auschwitz. Upon arrival in Auschwitz,
David was separated from his family, who were gassed and David was shaved,
deloused and held for future use on work details. Of the camp itself, David
remembers very few details. After approximately four weeks, David was shipped
to the Müldorf labor camp in Southern Germany. While there, David worked
for Organization Todt, clearing trees for the construction of an underground
airplane factory. David contacted typhus after he was liberated and was hospitalized
in the DP Camp at Feldafing. Following his recovery, David showed no desire
to return to Romania and made his way to the United States, arriving in New
York in May 1949. From New York, David moved to Minneapolis and eventually
made his way to Detroit in ca. 1950. He married in 1953 and had three sons. An
earlier audio interview is also available: OCLC# 49392609. |
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Alexander Karp | Original format: video; OCLC# 43765781 |
Alexander Karp was born in Baktaloranthaza, a small town in Hungary. In 1944,
when he was about 19 years old, his family was moved into the Kisvarda ghetto.
His immediate family consisted of his mother and 15 year old sister, his father
had been taken prisoner in Russia in 1942 and the family did not know if he
was alive or dead. The family was transported to Birkenau where Mr. Karp was
separated from his mother and sister. He and an uncle spent about 4 months
in Birkenau. Claiming to be tool and die makers, they were sent to several
different camps eventually ending up at an underground airplane factory in
the Kochendorf area. In March 1945, they were evacuated to Dachau and then
to Mittenwald, a town close to the Austrian border, where they were liberated.
In August 1945 he was reunited with his father. |
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Ruth Kent | Original format: video; OCLC# 31677176 |
Ruth Kent was born in Łódź, Poland and lived with her family in the
Łódź ghetto until it was liquidated in 1944. The family was then sent
to Auschwitz where they were separated and some family members were immediately
put to death. Ruth and a sister were sent to Stutthof, a labor camp, where
they were later separated. Ruth survived a forced march as the Germans evacuated
the camps in the face of the advancing Russian army. She was liberated by
the Russians and was reunited with two brothers after the war. |
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Bernard and Emery Klein | Original format: video; OCLC# 39155285 |
The Klein brothers were born in Humenné, a town in eastern Slovakia.
The immediate family of the brothers included their parents and a younger
sister. The Germans occupied the area in 1939 and started to deport the Jews
in 1941. The Klein family was not deported until 1944 because Mr. Klein was
an important farming advisor. The family was sent to Auschwitz without Bernard,
who had become separated. Mrs. Klein and her daughter were immediately gassed
upon arrival at the camp. Bernard was reunited with his brother and father
at Auschwitz a month later. The three were sent to Gleiwitz where Emery and
his father worked in a factory while Bernard worked in the concentration camp
kitchen. In 1945, as the Russian army advanced into the area, the camp was
evacuated to Blechhammer, another camp in the vicinity. The German guards
fled the camp, leaving the prisoners. A few days later, the brothers, their
father and several others began walking back to Humenné. The Klein
family moved to Israel, Montreal and eventually to Detroit. |
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Martin Koby | Original format: audio; OCLC# 52558424 |
An interview with Mr. Martin Koby, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr.
Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
Martin Koby was born in Rovno, Poland in 1930. During the 1930s, Mr. Koby
along with his mother, father and brother moved to the neighboring village
of Giuszwica. During the pre-war period, Martin and his family experienced
several incidents of anti-Semitism, especially during Christian holidays.
In 1939, the Soviet Union annexed Eastern Poland as part of a secret agreement
contained in the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact and Giuszwica came under
Soviet control. Under Soviet rule, Martin and his family lived a relatively
normal life. In Summer 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union and Giuszwica
came under German control. Under German rule, anti-Semitism increased among
the local population and Martin’s father was abducted and beaten by
members of the Ukrainian Liberation Army (UPA). Martin’s father was
released and due to the influence of a wealthy Polish landowner, the family
was sent to work on an estate, rather than sent to the newly established Jewish
Ghetto in Rovno. In September 1942, Martin’s family, hearing news of
the liquidation of the Rovno Ghetto, went into hiding. Between 1942 and 1944,
the family hid in six different locations in and around Giuszwica, usually
with the knowledge and complicity of the local population. In February 1944,
the Soviets liberated the area and the family moved to Rovno. In late 1945,
they were allowed by the Soviet government to relocate to Poland and moved
to Bytom, near Katowice. Sometime in 1946 or 1947, the family traveled to
a Displaced Persons Camp (The Sedan Kaserne) in Ulm, Germany. From there they
made their way to the United States.
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Marvin Kozlowski | Original format: audio; OCLC# 55800668 |
An interview with Marvin Kozlowski, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney
Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Marvin
Kozlowski was born in Radom, Poland in 1920. Following the German invasion of
Poland, Mr. Kozlowski and his family were placed in the Radom Ghetto, where Mr.
Kozlowski worked as a forced laborer for Daimler-Benz. While in the ghetto, Mr.
Kozlowski's mother and three siblings were deported to the Treblinka death camp.
Following the liquidation of the ghetto in 1944, Mr. Kozlowski, along with his
father, were marched to Tomaszów where they were put on a train and shipped
to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Upon arrival there, they were immediately sent to an unidentified
labor camp in Western Germany. After a brief time, they were sent to Unterriexingen,
a labor sub-kommando of Natzweiler Concentration Camp. After one month, the camp
was liquidated and Marvin and his father were liberated near Osterburken, Germany,
while en-route to an unknown destination. |
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Henry Krystal | Original format: video; OCLC# 45242245 |
Henry Krystal was born in Sosnowiec, Poland
in 1925. Shortly after the Nazi invasion, Henry's brother and then father
escaped to the Soviet occupied zone of Poland while Henry and his mother lived
in Bodzentyn, Poland. In 1942 Henry was sent to a labor camp and his mother
sent to Treblinka where she died. From 1942 until the end of the war, Henry
was a member of a labor Kommando sent from place to place, including Starachowice,
Bobrek, Birkenau, Siemensstadt and Sachsenhausen. He worked in a factory operated
by the Siemens company. At the end of the war he was in the city of Schwerin,
in the British occupied zone of Germany. In 1947 Henry immigrated to Detroit,
Michigan where he lived with an aunt and uncle, went to school and became
a psychiatrist. |
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Stefa (Sarah) Sprecher Kupfer | Original format: video; OCLC# 32158870 |
Stefa Kupfer was ten years
old and living in Sanok, Poland when the war started. Her father was killed
in the early days of the occupation. Stefa, her mother and young sister went
into hiding instead of registering with the occupational government. Mrs.
Orlewska, a Polish woman, played a significant role in their survival by hiding
them in her house. They were also aided by other Poles, some of whom knew
they were Jews. |
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Alfred Lessing | Original format: video; OCLC# 30754897 |
Alfred Lessing recalls his experiences living with other families
as a hidden child in the Netherlands during the war. He talks about the last
year of the war when he was reunited and lived with his father and brothers. |
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Rene Lichtman | Original format: video; OCLC# 50502926 |
Born in Paris, France in 1937, Rene is the only son of Polish immigrants who arrived in France in the 1930s. Rene's father joined the French Army shortly before the outbreak of World War Two. After the German invasion of the Benelux countries in May 1940, his father was killed in action just outside of Paris in Compiégne. After the fall of France, Rene's mother sent to him to stay with a family in the countryside and it was there that he was kept hidden from the Germans for the remainder of the war and his mother went into hiding in Paris in 1942. Although Rene and his mother survived the war, most of his maternal and paternal family members in Poland were murdered by the Germans. In 1950, Rene's mother married an American Orthodox Jew and the two moved from France to Williamsburg, New York.An audio interview from 1992 is also available: OCLC# 45257583. |
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Leo Liffman | Original format: video; OCLC# 32948424 |
Leo Liffman was born and raised in Wiesbaden, Germany. He relates his experiences
with anti-Semitism as a child and young adult during the closing years of
the Weimar Republic and the early Hitler years. He was arrested during Kristallnacht
and imprisoned for several weeks at Buchenwald concentration camp. He left
Germany in 1939, leaving his parents behind, and was the only member of his
family to survive the war. |
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Helena Manaster | Original format: video; OCLC# 51670813 |
Born in Poland, Helena was one of eight children, all of whom were adults at the beginning of the war. After the German invasion in 1939, the family separated and Helen, along with several siblings and their father went to Lwów, which was under Soviet control at the time. In June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union and occupied Lwów. Helena's father and brothers were sent to Belzec, where they died in the gas chambers. Helena and her husband were moved to Lesko and then on to Zamosc. Because Helena's husband was a doctor, the Germans sent them to a labor camp in Rokitna. They eventually escaped and made their way to Kraków, where they remained in hiding until the end of the war. |
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John Mandel | Original format: audio; OCLC# 55797234 |
An interview with John Mandel, a Holocaust
survivor, conducted by Charlene Green. John Mandel was
born in 1927? in Munkacs, Czechoslovakia. After the Hungarian
annexation of the area in 1938, John and his family suffered
increasing persecution in the Hungarian regime. The family
was deported to Birkenau in May 1944. John's mother,
sister and two younger brothers were gassed upon arrival
and John was separated from his father and another brother
when he was transferred to Auschwitz I. After about seven
months in Auschwitz I, John was transferred to Mauthausen
then to Melk and finally to Ebensee (both sub-camps of
Mauthausen), where he was liberated by the American Army
in spring, 1945. After liberation, John went to the Displaced
Persons Camp at Gabersee and in 1946, he emigrated to
the United States. |
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Lucy Glaser Merritt | Original format: audio; OCLC# 58564820 |
An interview with Lucy Glaser Merritt,
a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky,
Professor of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn.
Lucy Glaser Merritt was born in Vienna, Austria in 1920.
Following the German annexation (Anschluss) of Austria
in 1938, Lucy and her family experienced increased persecution
by both Austrian and German National Socialists. After
Lucy's father was arrested and released on Kristallnacht
(1938), the family decided to leave Austria. Lucy left
Austria to work as a nurse in England. Once there, she
was able to secure the passage of her family from Austria
to England. From England, they immigrated to the United
States. |
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Paul Molnar | Original format: audio; OCLC# 57104565 |
An interview with Paul Molnar, a Holocaust
survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor
of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Paul
Molnar was born in 1929 in Rákospalota, a suburb
of Budapest, Hungary. Following the outbreak of the war,
Paul and his family came under increasing persecution
by the pro-German Hungarian government. In 1944, his
father was sent to a labor camp and in July Paul, along
with his mother, brother and grandmother, were deported
to Auschwitz-Birkenau. After arrival, Paul's mother,
brother and grandmother were gassed. After a brief time
in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Paul was sent to Buchenwald and
then to Magdeburg where he worked at a factory run by
I.G. Farben. He then returned briefly to Buchenwald and
then was sent to another camp, Berga. In April 1945,
Paul was evacuated from Berga and while marching to an
unknown destination, he escaped and was liberated. Paul
later immigrated to the United States. |
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Abraham Mondry | Original format: audio |
Abraham Mondry was born in Mlawa, Poland and with the outbreak of war, his family was deported to the Warsaw ghetto. Before, during, and after the war, Abraham actively worked as a smuggler on the black market. Abraham spent three years at Auschwitz where he served as a nurse aid to Dr. Mengele. With the liquidation of Auschwitz, he was marched to Ebensee where he was soon liberated by American forces. Recovering from health problems, Abraham lived in Italy where he continued his black market activities until 1949 when he immigrated to the United States. |
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Nathan Nothman | Original format: audio |
Nathan Nothman was born on July 15, 1925 in Krakow, Poland. Following the German invasion of Poland, he, his parents, and his three brothers and sister were forced to move into the Krakow-Płaszów ghetto. Nathan and his father worked for the Nazis as plumbers and were allowed to leave the ghetto for work until his father was sent to Auschwitz and killed. In 1943 when the ghetto was liquidated, Nathan was then sent to the Płaszów concentration camp and then to Gross-Rosen in 1944 and was assigned to work detail on the Steinburg in both camps. He was then sent to Flossenburg to work on the railroads in 1945. Nathan and his friend escaped during a death march and walked to Laufen to be rescued by the American Army. He stayed in the Laufen DP camp and then transferred to the Ainring DP camp where he met and married his wife. Nathan was also reunited with his sister and mother after the war and together they moved to the United States in 1950. |
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Sonia Nothman | Original format: audio; OCLC# 62739843 |
Sonia Nothman was
born in Chmielnik, Poland in 1922. When the war
started, Sonia was visiting family in Łódź. She returned
to Chmielnik, but due to her Polish language skills, was able to move
between Chmielnik and
Łódź. In 1941, a ghetto was established in
Chmilenik and Sonia, along with her family, was placed in the ghetto. In
1942, Sonia, her brother and one sister were deported to the
Skarzysko-Kamienna forced labor camp. In 1944, Sonia was sent to
Czenstochow. From there she was sent west into Germany
proper where she and her sister were marched to several labor camps
(Bergen-Belsen, Berga, Dachau
and Allach). They were liberated by the American Army in 1945. |
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Nathan, Bernard and Samuel Offen | Original format: video; OCLC# 40671915 |
The Offen family was from Kraków, Poland. The brothers tell stories of their life in the Kraków ghetto, Płaszów labor camp and Mauthausen concentration camp. While at Płaszów, Bernard and other children were transported out of camp, most likely to be executed. However, Bernard managed to escape and was then smuggled into another sub-camp to be with an uncle. The family was later reunited at Płaszów until they were sent to Mauthausen. After arriving at Mauthausen, Bernard and his father were separated from Sam and Nathan and sent to Auschwitz. Shortly after arriving at Auschwitz, their father was "selected" by Dr. Mengele and sent to the gas chamber. After the war, Sam and Nathan went to Italy where Bernard later found them. |
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Nathan Offen | Original format: audio; OCLC# 50672973 |
An interview with Nathan Offen, a Holocaust
survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor
of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Nathan
Offen lived in Kraków, Poland. After the German
invasion in 1939, Nathan, his brothers Sam and Bernie
and their father were recruited by the Germans as forced
laborers. Nathan was sent to a nearby rock quarry to
work. Meanwhile, Nathan's mother and sister were rounded
up and deported. The three brothers and their father
were shipped to Plaszów and then to Gusen I, a
sub-camp of Mauthausen. Nathan and Sam were separated
from their father and Bernie there, it was the last time
Nathan saw his father. In 1945, Nathan and Sam were liberated
by the American Army. The brothers learned of a Polish
unit in the British Army based in Italy and decided to
join. While in a DP camp in Italy, they discovered that
Bernie was in a different DP camp and the brothers were
reunited. After the war, the three brothers settled in
Britain until 1951 when they emigrated to the United
States. |
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Samuel Offen | Original format: audio; OCLC# 52506675 |
An interview with Sam Offen, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney
Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Sam
Offen lived in Kraków, Poland. After the German invasion of 1939, Sam
and his brothers, Nathan and Bernie, along with their father, were recruited
by the Germans as forced laborers. Nathan was sent to a nearby rock quarry
to work. In 1942, Sam's mother and sister were rounded-up and deported and
the three brothers and their father were shipped to Płaszów. After
a short time, the Offens were sent to Gusen I, a sub-camp of Mauthausen. There
Sam and Nathan were separated from their father and Bernie. It was the last
time Sam saw his father. In 1945, Sam and Nathan were liberated by the American
Army. The brother's learned of a Polish Unit of the British Army, based in
Italy and decided to join. While in a DP camp in Italy they discovered that
Bernie was in a different DP camp and the brothers were reunited. After joining
the army, Nathan and Sam were given the opportunity to move to Britain. Sam
moved to the United States in 1951. |
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Herman Opatowski | Original format: audio |
An interview with Herman Opatowski, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Paul Canchester.
Herman Opatowski was born in Kielce, Poland. After German invasion of Poland in 1939, Herman, along with his mother, father and eight siblings, were placed in a make-shift ghetto in Kielce. While in the ghetto, Herman was used as a forced laborer by the German authorities. At some point, his family was sent "East," most likely to the Treblinka death camp.
After being separated from his family, Herman was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he remained until the camp was liquidated in early 1945. He was then sent on a forced march westwards, but managed to escape from the column. Heading eastward, he eventually met the Soviet Army. |
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Abraham Pasternak | Original format: video; OCLC# 30831413 |
Born in Betlan, Romania, Abraham Pasternak relates his experiences
in Romania during the Nazi occupation and his internment in several concentration
camps, including Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Theresienstadt, Schlieben (a satellite
of Buchenwald) and Zeitz, a city in Germany. |
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Alexander Raab | Original format: audio; OCLC# 55802179 |
An interview with Alexander Raab a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Alexander Raab was born in 1933 in Jarosław, Poland. Following the German invasion in 1939, the German’s deported the Jews of the area over the San river, into territory newly annexed by the Soviet Union. Following a brief stay in Grudek, the family was deported to Siberia by the NKVD. After an arduous journey, the family spent time in the cities of Sinyuga and Bodaibo. During this period, Alexander’s father was sent to a labor commando, where he perished. In 1943 or ‘44, the family was sent west to the city of Saratov. After the end of the war, they went to Świdnica, Poland. Alexander attempted to illegally immigrate to Palestine via Italy. Interned by the British, he spent several years on the island of Cyprus and was finally successful in reaching Israel in 1948. He immigrated to America in 1962. |
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Muller Roemerfeld | Original format: audio; OCLC# 60779795 |
An interview with Mrs. Roemerfeld, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Eva Lipton. Mrs. Roemerfeld was born in Płońsk, Poland. Following the Nazi invasion in 1939, Mrs. Roemerfeld, along with her parents and older brother, were placed in a make-shift ghetto in the city. During that period, her father was shipped to Auschwitz-Birkenau and in December 1942, she, along with her remaining family, were shipped there as well. After arrival, Mrs. Roemerfeld was placed in the Kanada Kommando sorting clothes. She was then transferred to Budy, a sub-camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. After the liquidation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp system, Mrs. Roemerfeld was sent to Maehrisch-Weisswasser, a sub-camp of Gross-Rosen. Mrs. Roemerfeld was fifty-five years of age at the time of her undated interview. |
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Nathan Roth | Original format: video; OCLC# 51670025 |
Nathan Roth was born in Veliky Bereznyy, Czechoslovakia. After the German annexation of the area in 1944, Nathan, along with his mother, father and eight siblings, was deported to the ghetto in Ungvár where the family was split up. From Ungvár, Nathan was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and then to Jaworzno, a sub-camp of Auschwitz. While he was at Jaworzno, Nathan worked for I.G. Farben, a German company operating an excavation project in the area. Nathan was liberated by the Russians while on the death march following the evacuation of the Jaworzno camp. He returned to Veliky Bereznyy after the war and emigrated to the United States in 1949. |
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Agi Rubin | Original format: video; OCLC# 31713928 |
Agi Rubin was born in Monkacz,
a town in the part of Czechoslovakia which was annexed to Hungary in 1938.
In 1944 her family was deported to Auschwitz where her mother and younger
brother were killed. She worked in a sorting shed in the camp until it
was evacuated in January 1945. She survived a forced march of several
months duration and was liberated in Germany when she was 15 years old.
She was later reunited with her father. |
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Zoltan Rubin | Original format: video; OCLC# 40671802 |
Zoltan Rubin was born in Kapúsány, Czechoslovakia. He is the
youngest child in a large family of eight sons and three daughters. His family
was fairly well off since his father owned a large farm and several mills.
Zoltan and his parents were protected from deportation by an economic exemption
until 1942 when the exemption was eliminated and his parents were deported.
Zoltan was able to avoid deportation by using Gentile papers given to him
by friends. In 1944, he was captured with a group of partisans and sent to
a prisoner-of-war camp near Jena where he was part of a forced labor detail
digging tunnels for the Germans. Towards the end of the war, he escaped with
three others and lived off the land for about six weeks until the American
army arrived in the area. He was later reunited with an older brother who
was a doctor with the Czechoslovakian army. |
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Leon Salomon | Original format: video; OCLC# 32233253 |
Leon Salomon was born in Maków Mazowiecki, Poland and lived there with
his family until Poland was occupied by the Germans in 1939. Leon and two
of his sisters moved east to Kobylnik to live with their brother, a school
teacher who was later killed when the Germans took over the area. In 1942,
the Jewish residents of the town were executed by the Germans in a nearby
forest. As Leon was being taken away to be shot, he escaped from the guards
and hid in the forest. Leon was the only member of his immediate family to
survive and eventually joined a partisan group fighting in the Vilna and White
Russia area. He joined the Soviet Army near the end of the war and fought
with them until he was wounded in east Prussia. |
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Vera Schey | Original format: video; OCLC# 55895350 |
An interview with Vera Schey, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Vera Schey was born in Budapest, Hungary. An only child whose father died before the war, Vera and her mother survived the German annexation of Hungary in 1944 by obtaining false identifications and papers. During the last months of the war, the two hid in several different locations in and around Budapest, seperating and reuniting on several occasions. Vera left Hungary for the United States in 1946. |
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Sam Seltzer | Original format: video; OCLC# 55802454 |
An interview with Sam Seltzer, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Anita Schwartz. Sam Seltzer was born in Modzurów, Poland. Sam's family consisted of his mother, father and five siblings. Following the outbreak of the war, his mother and siblings attempted to flee east to the Russian border. They were unable to complete their journey, instead staying with Sam's older sister in the small town of Zawiercie. After a brief time, Sam returned to Modzurów, until he was rounded-up by the Germans and placed in a number of forced- labor camps, including Sosnowiec, Klettendorf, Geppersdorf, Brande, Graeditz, Faulbrück and Annaberg. In 1944, Sam was sent to Auschwitz. After several weeks in Birkenau, Sam volunteered to work as a mechanic and was sent to a labor Kommando attached to Buchenwald. Sam was liberated in Buchenwald in April 1945. After liberation, Sam was hospitalized in Feldafing, Germany where he was reunited with his brother and the two emigrated to the United States. |
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Martin Shlanger | Original format: video; OCLC# 36450713 |
Martin Shlanger was born in Vel'ke Kapusany, Czechoslovakia. He moved to Budapest
in 1942 to work in a factory. In March 1944 the Germans occupied the city.
Mr. Shlanger acquired false papers but was soon identified as a Jew and arrested.
He was sent to Jaworzno, a sub-camp in the Auschwitz system. In 1945, he survived
a death march to Blechhammer as the Russian army invaded the area. Because
he hid when the Germans left Blechhammer, he was left behind at the camp and
eventually encountered the Soviet army. He was reunited for a short time with
his brother, who was serving with the Czechoslovak Brigade in the Soviet army.
Martin returned to his hometown where he lived until 1949 when he immigrated
to Detroit, Michigan. |
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Emanuel Tanay | Original format: video; OCLC# 32104103 |
Although he was born in Vilna in 1928, Dr. Emanuel Tanay spent the pre-war
years in Miechow, a small community south of Krakow, Poland. During the occupation,
his family lived in the Miechow ghetto until Tanay, his mother and sister
escaped just before it was liquidated. His father did not escape and was later
executed by Amon Goeth. Tanay spent part of the war living in a monastery
"hidden" as a novice and "converted Jew." He later used
false Aryan papers as he moved around Poland and Hungary. |
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Miriam Troostwyk | Original format: audio; OCLC# 52452011
(part 1), OCLC # 52452163 (part 2) |
Miriam Troostwyk was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1931. In 1933, the Troostwyk
family emigrated to Amersfoort, Holland while her older sister remained in
Germany. In 1939, Miriam's sister and her husband joined the family in Holland.
Following the German invasion of the country in 1940, Miriam's father passed
away of natural causes. With the help of friends and family, the Troostwyks
evaded several German round-ups and later went into hiding first in Velp and
then in Arnhem. In Arnhem the family stayed with several other families in
the house of Mr. and Mrs. Vandenberg, where they remained until the liberation
of the Netherlands in 1944. Following the liberation, Miriam remained in Holland
for some time. She was married in 1953. |
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Rose Wagner | Original format: audio; OCLC# 55801660 |
An interview
with Rose Wagner, a Holocaust survivor, conducted
by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the
University of Michigan-Dearborn. At the outbreak
of the war in 1939, Rose and her family lived in
Łódź, Poland. After the German occupation, the family
found themselves in the Łódź ghetto. By 1942, her
parents had perished, leaving her and her sister
to fend for themselves in the ghetto. In 1944, she
and her sister were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
Able to stay together in the camp, the sisters were
sent to the Halbstadt concentration camp in Fall,
1944, where they were liberated in May 1945. |
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Ruth Muschkies Webber | Original format: video; OCLC# 31674068 |
Ruth Webber was about 5 years old when
the war started. Her family was first moved into the Ostrowiec ghetto and
then lived in the following camps; Bodzechow, Sandomierz, Starachowice, Austrovietz,
Annopol and finally Auschwitz. Her mother survived the war but her father
died on the last transport out of Auschwitz. Ruth was in the children's block
of Auschwitz when it was liberated by the Russians on Jan. 27, 1945. |
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Michael Weiss | Original format: video; OCLC# 45242655 |
Born in Kascony, Czechoslovakia, Michael
Weiss chronicles his experiences under the Czechoslovakians, Hungarians, and
Germans, both prior to and during, the Second World War. Mr. Weiss and his
family were shipped to the Hungarian ghetto of Beregszasz (Berehovo) in 1944.
From Beregszasz, the family was deported to Auschwitz, where his mother was
gassed by the Germans. From Auschwitz, Weiss and his father were sent to Buchenwald
and then on to Zeitz, located approximately fifteen miles south of Leipzig
in Central Germany. |
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Shari Weiss | Original format: video; OCLC# 32298954 |
Shari Weiss was born in Harina, a small
village in Romania. When she was eight or nine, Shari went to live with an
aunt and uncle in Cluj where she stayed until 1944 when the Germans occupied
Hungary. In May 1944 they were transported to Auschwitz after staying at a
transit camp in a brick factory for three weeks. Shari describes her life
at Auschwitz where she and her aunt stayed for about five months before they
were taken to a labor camp in Altenburg, Germany. She worked in a factory
until April 1945 when the inmates were marched out of the camp. Shari and
her aunt were liberated by the American army two days later. Shari's uncle
did not survive the war. |
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Cyla Wiener | Original format: audio; OCLC# 37001308 |
Cyla Wiener was born in Kraków, Poland during World War I, one of nine
children and the only girl. She recalls her experiences in the Kraków
ghetto and the concentration camps of Płaszów, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen
during World War II. At Płaszów she helped care for the children, including
her two year old son, until they were taken to Auschwitz. She worked as a
seamstress at Płaszów and later at Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, sewing
for the Germans. After the war, she returned to Kraków and was reunited
with her husband, a few remaining brothers and nieces. Mrs. Wiener and her
husband eventually immigrated to the United States. |