Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Charlotte Firestone - March 11, 1982

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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1. Introduction
2. Pre-War Family Life
3. Religious Life
4. The Munkascer Rebbe
5. Everyday Life and Culture
6. Politics
7. Hungarian Annexation
8. Hungarian Rule
9. Outbreak of War
10. Arrival of Germans
11. Round-Ups
12. Hungarian Leaders
13. Deportation
14. Transport to Auschwitz-Birkenau
15. Arrival at Birkenau
16. Birkenau
17. Soup
18. Death of Family Members
19. Transport to Stutthof
20. Stutthof
21. Conditions in Stutthof
22. Stubälteste
23. Praust
24. Labor in Praust
25. Punishments
26. Sexual Abuse
27. Leaving Praust
28. Treatment by Wehrmacht
29. Escape
30. Denmark
31. Prague
32. Reunited with Husband
33. Having Children
34. Paris
35. America