Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Isaac Engel - June 16 & 25, 1992

Contents

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.

Link to Portraits of Honor Project

  1. Introduction
  2. Family
  3. Religious Life
  4. Relations with Non-Jews
  5. Anti-Semitism
  6. Jewish Community
  7. Politics
  8. Outbreak of War
  9. Impression of Germans
  10. Hiding in Barn
  11. Brother Taken by Germans
  12. Memories of Germans
  13. Conditions Under the Germans
  14. Underground Movement in Zwoleń
  15. Anti-Jewish Laws
  16. Ghetto in Zwoleń
  17. Round-Ups

    [interruption on interview]

  18. Family in Hiding
  19. Witnessing Aktion
  20. Knowledge of Treblinka
  21. Judenrat
  22. Hiding
  23. Disposition of Parents
  24. Deportation of Family
  25. Working on Farm
  26. Skarzysko Kamienna
  27. Knowledge of Labor Camp at Skarzysko
  28. Conditions in Skarzysko
  29. Conditions in Skarzysko (continued)
  30. Beatings in Skarzysko
  31. Relations with Germans
  32. Czestochowa
  33. Religious Practices in the Camp
  34. Conditions in Czestochowa
  35. "Organizing"
  36. Beatings in Czestochowa
  37. Gross Rosen
  38. Guards in Camps
  39. Conditions in Gross Rosen
  40. Labor in Gross Rosen
  41. Appell
  42. Transport to Nordhausen
  43. Nordhausen
  44. Conditions in Nordhausen
  45. Dora
  46. Labor in Dora
  47. Conditions in Dora
  48. Camp Staff
  49. Evacuation to Bergen-Belsen
  50. Bergen-Belsen
  51. Liberation
  52. Celle
  53. Fate of Family
  54. Fate of Family (continued)
  55. Conditions in DP Camp
  56. Immigration to United States
  57. Talking About Experiences

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