Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Luba Elbaum - January 20, 1982

Contents

An interview with Luba Elbaum, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Arthur Kirsch. Luba Elbaum was born on Jan. 10, 1923 in Lublin, Poland. When the war broke out, she worked with her family for the Germans. While her family was taken to the ghettos in Lublin and Belzyce, Luba worked on a farm for the Germans. In 1941 she was deported to Budzyn to be a housemaid for the Oberscharführer Felix. A year later, Luba was deported to Płaszów for work detail, then to Auschwitz. In 1944, she was transported to Bergen-Belsen where she was selected along with 300 other girls to be deported to Aschersleben to work. Luba was then forced on a six-week death march to Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia where she was liberated on May 8, 1945.

Link to Portraits of Honor Project

  1. Introduction
  2. Family
  3. Life in Minkowice Before the War
  4. Religion and Education
  5. Life with Uncle
  6. Political Life
  7. Anti-Semitism
  8. Jewish Education
  9. Education II
  10. Learning a Trade in Lublin
  11. Life in Lublin
  12. Outbreak of War
  13. Life Under German Occupation
  14. Harassment of Jews
  15. Harassment of Jews II
  16. Wearing the Jewish Star
  17. Passing as Polish
  18. Russian Army Enters Lublin
  19. Life Under Russian Occupation
  20. Start of Jewish Section
  21. Jewish Section Becomes a Ghetto
  22. Working for the Germans
  23. Uncle Moves into Ghetto
  24. Germans Start Deportations
  25. Deportation to Bełżyce Ghetto
  26. Condition of Bełżyce Ghetto
  27. Escaping the Ghetto
  28. Fate of Family
  29. Mother Deported to Treblinka
  30. Fate of Family II
  31. In Contact with Poles
  32. Hearing About the Ghettos
  33. Resistance in the Ghetto
  34. Deportation to Budzyn
  35. Life in Budzyn
  36. Daily Routine in Budzyn
  37. Work in Budzyn
  38. Punishments in Budzyn
  39. Resistance in Budzyn
  40. Poles Turn On Jews
  41. Transfer to Płaszów
  42. Life in Płaszów
  43. Transport to Auschwitz
  44. Arriving in Auschwitz
  45. Life in Auschwitz
  46. Transfer to Bergen-Belsen
  47. Life in Bergen-Belsen
  48. Death March
  49. Liberation
  50. Appell in Budzyn
  51. Survival
  52. After Liberation
  53. Returning to Lublin
  54. Wanting to Move to Israel
  55. Moving to Detroit
  56. New Life in Detroit
  57. Health Problems
  58. Sharing Experience
  59. Health Issues II
  60. Nightmares
  61. Searching for Survivors
  62. Polish Underground
  63. Polish Role in the Holocaust
  64. Conclusion

© Board of Regents University of Michigan-Dearborn