Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

John Mandel - May 26, 1981

Contents

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.

  1. Introduction
  2. Family
  3. Community
  4. Religious Life
  5. Relations with non-Jews
  6. Hiding
  7. Hungarian Annexation of Munkacs
  8. Hungarian Rule
  9. Munkacs Ghetto
  10. Transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau
  11. Conditions on Train
  12. Arrival at Birkenau
  13. Conditions in Birkenau
  14. Other Camps
  15.  Liberation
  16. Auschwitz I
  17. Conditions in Other Camps
  18. Diet in Auschwitz
  19. Tattooed
  20. Labor in Camps
  21. Resistance
  22. Appells
  23. Kapos
  24. Religoius Practices in Camp
  25. Punishment in Camps
  26. Death Marches
  27. Thoughts on Survival
  28. Liberation
  29. Food After Liberation
  30. Document
  31. DP Camp
  32. Emigration to America
  33. Impressions of Germans
  34. Anti-Semitism in America
  35. Talking About Experiences I
  36. Reminders of Experience
  37. Talking About Experiences II
  38. Physical affects of the Holocaust
  39. Talking to Children
  40. America
  41. Conclusion

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