Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

Henry Dorfman - August 11 & 25, 1989

Introduction

The following is an interview with Henry Dorfman conducted in his office on the afternoon of August 11, 1989 in Southfield, Michigan. The interviewer is Sidney Bolkosky.

Uh, could you tell me your name please and where you're from?

My name is Henry Dorfman. My original name was Yehoshua David Chaim. Joshua David Chaim. I am born in Poland, a little town called Głowaczów. The uh, district was Kozienice and the state that we belonged to was Kielce. I was born eleventh of February 1922. Lived there all my life. We were in the meat business. And in the summertime, we were involved in the orchard business.

Let me stop you for a second. How large was your family?

My family was--I had uh, one little sister three years old, one little brother five and one little brother seven years old.

You were the oldest.

I was the oldest.

Four children.

Yes.

Aunts and uncles?

Oh I have, I had a lot of aunts and uncles. I had uh, one uncle, two uncles, three, four aunts just from my mother's side. And two sisters, there were three sisters and four brothers.

From your mother's side?

Yes.

Alone?

Yes.

Were they married?

All married.

With children?

Children, yes.

And your father's side?

My father's side I had one uncle, one uncle and three sisters.

Also married?

Also married. And also have quite a few children.

Grandparents? You had grandparents?

Grandparents, yes. Grandparents we--I, I, we had uh, two of the grandparents died before the war. Two died in the war, from my mother's side.

Um, of, of your aunts, uncles, grandparents, your brothers and sisters, first cousins how, how many would you say died in the war?

Except the two grandparents, all of 'em died in the war. From nine--from, from 1940 to, to uh, '44, '45.

And from your immediate family, who survived? You and anybody else?

I survived, my father survived and our cousin what lives in Israel, Josef Rebo. He, he is my father and his mother were brothers and sisters.

Can you, can you give me an estimate of how many people we're talking about who died?

If I would say the other children and the other things, at least a hundred. Close to a hundred.

Um, did you live near the...

Because I know one of my father's uh, uh, and with Josey, they were, they were five home. The other sister had I think six. Three boys, three girls. At least, close to a hundred, like I say, if I would...


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