Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on January 22, 2016

Choose an interview Ackermann, Eva Adler, Marton Adler, Olga Altus, Irving Arden, Eugene Asner, Abraham Baker, Ella Beer, Magda Berki, Peri Biegun, Miriam Biegun, Samuel Binke, Szymon Birnholtz, Joseph Boros, Eva Brenner, Larry Brysk, Miriam Burdowski, David Butter, Irene Hasenberg Camhi, Bella Chandler, Maurice Charlupski, Franka Charlupski, Franka Cigler, Eva Cohen, Regina Cohen, Barbara Schechter Collins, Steve Cymerath, Simon Dan, Bert Dan, Clara Denes, Lila Dorfman, Henry Dorfman, Mala Weintraub Ebenstein, Noemi Engel Ehrmann, Alexander Eisenberg, Anne Elbaum, Luba Eliahu, Zyta Engel, Isaac Federman, Ruth Fein, Albert Feld, Sylvia Feldman, Eugene Feldman, Manya Auster Fenster, Lily Ferber, Fred Ferber, Miriam Monczyk-Laczkowska Firestone, Charlotte Fischler, Zivia Fishman, Joshua Fisk, Hannah Fisk, Benjamin Fordonski, Nancy Geffen, Hilma Gilbert, Tola Gissing, Vera Goldman, Simon Gorman, Erna Blitzer Gorman, Erna Blitzer Green, Rose Greenberger, Anna Greenspan, Lola Grinbaum, Emerich Gringlas, Joseph Gun, Jack Gun, Jack Hasenberg, Werner Hirsch, Bernard Hirschle, Anne Holcman, Abraham Horwitz, Sally Icikson, Esther Feldman Ilkow, Lanka Jutkevicz, Helen Kahan, David Kahan, David Kallai, Lisa Kalmas, Simon Karp, Alexander Karp, Alexander Katan, Salvatore and Lili Kaye, Louis Kendal, Fred Kent, Ruth Kent, Ruth Kessler, Ilya Martha Klaiman, Joseph Klein, Bernard & Emery Kleinberg, Pauline Koby, Martin Konstam, Henry Korper, George Kowler, Maximilian Kozlowski, Edith Kozlowski, Marvin Krystal, Henry Kupfer, Stefa (Sarah) Sprecher Lang, Helen Lessing, Alfred Lichtman, Rene Liffman, Leo Linson, Edward Lupian, Esther Magnus, Freda Manaster, Helena Mandel, John Marczak, Herman Maroko, Simon Marom, Hugo Merritt, Lucy Glaser Moche, Ben Molnar, Paul Mondry, Abraham Nothman, Nathan Nothman, Sonia Offen, Nathan, Bernard, and Samuel Offen, Nathan Offen, Samuel Opas, Michael Opatowski, Herman Pasternak, Abraham Pasternak, Abraham Petrinetz, Irene Posner, Esther Praw, Esther Praw, Harry Raab, Alexander Raimi, Saul Ramras, Hanna Reiss, Brenda Rich, Selma Romerfeld, Bell Rosen, Alice Lang Rosenow, Eric Rosenthal, Peppy Rosenzweig, Rita Rotbaum Ribo, Joseph Roth, Edith Roth, Nathan Rothenberg, Berek Rubin, Agi Rubin, Zoltan Rubin, Sigmund Salomon, Leon Salzburg, Aaron Sandel, Adele Schey, Vera Schleifer, Alexander Schreiber, Judy Seltzer, Sam Sessler, Tamara Shlanger, Martin Shloss, Felicia Silow, Sara Silver, Regina Slaim, Josef Sobel, Irene Spergel , Baruch Steiger, Zwi Stern, Kurt Sternberg, Malka Stransky, Helen Szostak, Zofia Tanay, Emanuel Taubman, Lola Troostwyk, Miriam Tuchklaper, Sally Vine, George Wagner, Rose Water, Martin Wayne, Larry Webber, Ruth Muschkies Webber, Mark Weinberger, Jack Weiselman, Nathan Weiss, Michael Weiss, Michael Weiss, Shari Weiss, Sidy Wiener, Cyla Wimmer, Eva Zamczyk, Natalie View RSS feed

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Eva Ackermann was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1926. Although an only child, Eva was part of a large extended family, most of whom perished in the war. Eva's parents divorced when she was young and she was raised by her mother. Eva had a reasonably normal childhood, even after the war began. After the German annexation of Hungary in 1944, Eva was separated from her mother and sent to Zurndorf, Austria. From there she was transported to a labor camp in Landsberg, where she was liberated. Her father perished in an air raid shortly before the end of the war and her mother died in Bergen-Belsen.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 51866377

Marton Adler was born in 1929 in Volov, a village in Sub Carpathian Ruthenia. He was the oldest child and had two brothers and a sister. His village was occupied by Hungarians in 1939 when he was ten years old. Marton's father was conscripted into a labor unit in Russia from 1941 until the end of 1942. Eventually the family lost their store due to the "Jewish" laws. The Germans occupied the area in March of 1944 and soon after the family was deported, first to a ghetto in Sokirnitsa and then to Auschwitz where his mother and siblings were gassed. Marton and his father were sent to Buchenwald and then to Dora where his father was killed. Marton was eventually liberated by the British from Bergen-Belsen.

View Video on YouTube

Original Format: video OCLC#: 33345371

An interview with Olga Adler, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Jonathon Fishbane. Olga Adler was born in Beregszsz Czechoslovakia. After the Hungarians invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938, Olga's parents sent her to Budapest where she worked as a clothing model until the Budapest Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Olga's life was spared after a failed escape attempt and she lived in several camps until she was sent back to the Budapest ghetto as a nurse to the elderly and insane who had been left there. Olga's immediate family, her father, mother, brother and sister, all perished in forced labor or death camps. Upon liberation, Olga returned to her hometown, got married, and soon left for the United States when the Russians took over their town.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 70210201

An audio interview with Irving Altus, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Bernie Kent. Mr. Altus was born in 1920, in Czekanw, Poland. Mr. Altus was the middle child in a family consisting of five children, his mother and father, all of whom perished in the Holocaust. Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, the Germans arrested Mr. Altus and shipped him to various labor camps throughout Europe, including one in Knigsberg, Germany. In 1942, Mr. Altus was shipped to Auschwitz-Birkenau and assigned to an external Labor Kommando approximately 50 miles from the main camp. In 1945, Mr. Altus was forced to march westward towards Germany, eventually coming to Theresienstadt, where he was liberated by the Soviets after one day. After the war, Mr. Altus returned briefly to his hometown and then relocated to Munich, Germany. In 1949, he emigrated to America with his wife and son.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 52452306

Eugene Arden was a corporal during World War II. Arden's military government unit was attached the United States 7th Army as it travelled into Germany. The unit was responsible for closing down Nazi Labor Camps and for establishing DP Camps. The unit eventually helped liberate Landsberg, a sub-camp of Dachau. After the war, Eugene and his unit spent the post-war period in Heidelberg, Germany.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 52452406

An interview with Abraham Asner, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Sherry Weisberg. Abraham Asner was born in Nacha, Belarus in 1916. After the war broke out, Abraham and his brothers were sent to Radun ghetto as part of a labor force. They survived the liquidation of the ghetto in 1942 and became part of a partisan organization based in the nearby Natsher Pustshe forest. The brothers engaged in partisan activities and missions until they were liberated in 1945. A few years later, Abraham immigrated to Canada with his wife.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 124039009

A joint project between Portraits of Honor: Our Michigan Holocaust Survivors, the Program for Holocaust Survivors and Families, and the Voice/Vision Archive. Ella Baker was born in Vysni Apsa, Czechoslovakia on August 31, 1924 but grew up in Cop, Slovakia. After the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, Ella and her parents were taken to the Uzhorod ghetto where they were held until being transported Auschwitz-Birkenau. Once there, she was separated from her parents whom she never saw again. While in the camp, Ella worked as a slave laborer making airplane parts. In 1945, Ella was sent on a death march out of the camp, but was forced to return to help clean up after a Russian bombardment. It was there that she was liberated by the Russians and went back to Czechoslovakia and then to Israel in 1948. She left Israel and came to Detroit in 1956 and has been very active within her community in championing Jewish rights and the rights of the mentally ill. She is also a cancer survivor and despite the tragic events in her life she remains positive and optimistic. Her motto is: "Don't dwell on things that you cannot change and try to see what is possible without pretending. Be inquisitive and aware and challenge all unjust situations."

View Video on YouTube

Original Format: Video OCLC#: n/a

Magda Beer was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1915. After the Germans invaded Hungary, Magda and her family were forced to live in the Budapest ghetto, where she worked in a brick factory. After Budapest was liberated by the Russians, Magda opened up her own factory and remarried before finally moving to the United States.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 575350079

An interview with Peri Berki, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by an unidentified interviewer. Peri Berki was born in 1900 in Hungary. After her husband was deported to a labor camp and their farmland taken away, Peri and her son lived in a ghetto with her sister and at one point, with thirty-nine other people, in a one-bedroom apartment. With the help of her husband and a Gentile innkeeper, they obtained false papers, moved to the Hungarian countryside, and assumed Gentile identities. Throughout the war, they posed as Gentiles, avoiding detection and receiving help from several strangers. When the war ended, the family was reunited and they again obtained false papers to immigrate to the United States.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 60931685

Miriam Biegun was born in White Russia. She and her family fled the ghetto for the Lipiczanska forest, joining the Lipiczanska Puszcza resistance when she was just four years old. In 1944, after living in the forest for three years, she and her siblings returned to Zhetl to find it in ruins. After a few months, they moved to d, where her siblings went to a kibbutz and Miriam went on to Berlin by 1947. While in Germany, she was also with her aunts and uncles in Ziegenhain and Jger-Kaserne before ultimately travelling to Israel with an aunt, uncle, and cousin and meeting her husband on the ship. The two were married in Israel before moving to Winnipeg and Windsor before finally settling down in Oak Park around 1970.

View Video on YouTube Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: video OCLC#: 810901628

Samuel Biegun was born on December 25, 1932 in Pinsk, Poland. When the war began, Russian forces occupied Pinsk and put Samuel and his family under house arrest. The family was then taken to live in a village called Airtau for the duration of the war. After the war they returned to Poland for a short time before moving to DP camps in Germany and eventually to Israel. From there, Samuel and his wife moved to Canada and finally, the United States. Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 670512179

Szymon Binke was born in 1931 in d, Poland. Shortly after the Nazi invasion his family was moved to the city's Baluty district which became the d ghetto. In 1944 the family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where his mother and sister were gassed. Szymon was placed in the Kinderblock but escaped from it to join his father and uncles in the main camp of Auschwitz. Later he was transferred to a series of forced labor camps until he was liberated in May 1945.

View Video on YouTube

Original Format: video OCLC#: 45257341

Joseph Birnholtz was born in Czstochowa, Poland. When the war began, Joseph and his family were forced to live in the ghetto. When the ghetto was liquidated, he was separated from his family and forced to work at the HASAG factory near Czstochowa. After being liberated by the Russians in 1945, Joseph joined a kibbutz in Poland before eventually moving the United States and becoming a cantor.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 670525497

An interview with Eva Boros, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Kay Roth. Eva was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia in 1932. After the German annexation of the area, Eva's father began sending her siblings to Budapest, Hungary. Eva was smuggled there in 1944; however, the German invasion of that country prompted her to return to Bratislava. In September 1944, Eva was sent to the countryside surrounding Bratislava in order to go into hiding. Following the end of the war, Eva immigrated to Israel and then to the United States in 1969.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 57175058

An interview with Larry Brenner, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Larry Brenner was born in Vsrosnamny, Hungary in 1924. With the outbreak of the war, his father was sent to a forced labor camp and Larry went to live in Budapest to help an aunt run her business. In 1944, Larry was deported to a forced labor camp in J&aactue;szber&eactue;ny, the first of several forced labor camps to which he was sent. Larry was liberated from Gunskirchen, a subcamp of Mauthausen, and after liberation, he spent the next several years finding surviving family members and dodging the Hungarian Army draft. In 1948, Larry immigrated to America.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 76167128

Miriam Brysk was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1935. Following the German invasion of Poland, Miriam and her family moved to Lida, Belarus, which was her father's hometown. When Lida was turned into a ghetto, her father, a surgeon, was forced to treat Germans at the local hospital. On May 8th, 1942, Germans massacred most of the residents of the Lida ghetto, but Miriam and her family narrowly escaped death. After returning to the ghetto, the Jewish partisans contacted Miriam's father, requesting his assistance as a surgeon. The family joined the partisans in the Lipiczanska forest, where Miriam was passed off as boy for her safety. Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 708330728

David Burdowski was born in Kodawa, Poland on September 27, 1924. Following the invasion of Poland, he was taken to a forced labor camp called Buchwerder Forst. From there he was taken to work in a paper factory and was then sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. David was transported to many camps during the war before being liberated on a train outside of Dachau by American forces in Staltach. After the war he lived in the Feldafing Displaced Persons Camp and met his future wife. He moved to America in 1949 and started a family

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 318898165

Dr. Irene Hasenberg Butter was born in Berlin in 1930 but moved to Holland with her family in 1937. In June 1943 the family was deported, first to Westerbork, a transit camp, and then in Feb. 1944 to Bergen-Belsen. The family managed to be included in an exchange transport in early 1945, using falsified Equadorian passports. During the transport her father died. The rest of the family were released and went to North Africa and later moved to New York City after the war ended.

Original Format: video OCLC#: 31713792

An interview with Bella Camhi, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Bella Camhi was born in Salonika, Greece, ca. 1925. Following the German occupation of Greece, Bella, along with her mother, father and three sisters, was placed in the Salonika Ghetto. In 1943, the family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where everyone, except Bella and another sister, was gassed on arrival. Bella was assigned to work in the "Kanada Kommando" and her younger sister was placed in the "Kinderblock," from where she was later sent to the gas chambers. Sometime in 1944, Bella was moved out of Auschwitz-Birkenau, loaded onto a wagon and later abandoned in an empty field. After being liberated, Bella walked to Munich, Germany. She later returned to Salonika and finally immigrated to the United States sometime in the early 1950s. Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 56429688

Maurice Chandler was born in Nasielsk, Poland where his parents owned a textile store. After the Germans invaded the town, Maurice and his older brother escaped across the Bug River to Russia where they lived with a cousin until his brother became homesick. Maurice returned his brother to his parents, now in the Warsaw ghetto, and became trapped in the ghetto as well. The brothers escaped the ghetto and worked as farm hands. After his brother died of typhus, Maurice adopted a Polish identity and continued his work on Polish farms for the remainder of the war.

View video of Maurice Chandler in the Jewish Quarter of Nasielsk, Poland in 1938. Courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and the David Kurtz Collection.

Original Format: Audio OCLC#: 318901239

Franka Charlupski was born in 1920 and lived with her family in d, Poland. The Weintraubs were in the d ghetto from 1940 until August 1944 when they were transported to Auschwitz and separated. Her mother died in Auschwitz and her father died in a labor camp. Franka and her sister spent three days in Auschwitz before being moved to a labor camp outside of Bremen, Germany. On April 7, 1945 this camp was closed and the inmates were moved to Bergen-Belsen where they were liberated by the British Army on April 15.

Original Format: video OCLC#: 32214428

Franka Charlupski was born in d, Poland. After the Germans invaded Poland, Franka and her family were moved into the d Ghetto where they did forced labor. In August1944 the family was deported to Auschwitz. From there Franka and her sister were sent to Bremen and then to Bergen-Belsen where they were liberated. After the war, Franka met and married her second husband and moved to the United States.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 751988619

An interview with Eva Cigler, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Eva Lipton. Eva Cigler was born in Beregszsz, Czechoslovakia in 1926. After the Hungarian annexation of the area, Eva's family, consisting of her mother, father, four sisters and one brother, experienced increasing anti-Semitism from the Hungarians. In 1944, the family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where her mother, father, brother, and one sister were gassed. After some time in Auschwitz-Birkenau, Eva was transported to an unspecified satellite camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. From there she was sent to Bergen-Belsen where she was liberated. After spending some time in a Displaced Persons Camp in Celle, Germany, Eva returned to Beregszsz for a brief time. From there she went to Prague and immigrated to the United States.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 57175198

An interview with Regina Cohen, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Regina Cohen was born in Chust, Czechoslovakia in 1929. She was the fifth child of nine in a middle class Orthodox family. She and her family were sent to the ghetto in Chust and then were deported to Auschwitz in spring 1944. After a few months, she was selected to work in a Siemens factory near Nuremberg. She was then moved to a factory in Nuremberg where the American Army liberated her. Regina went home to Chust to find her only surviving family, one sister and one brother. Regina and her sister moved out of Russian occupied Czechoslovakia into a DP camp in Heidenheim, Germany where they stayed for three years. Regina continued her education in the DP camp and learned English in order to move to Montreal to be a mother's helper for a Jewish family. She met her husband in Windsor and soon moved to Detroit to start her family.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 70832305

An interview with Barbara Schechter Cohen, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Mrs. Schechter Cohen, born in 1941, is child survivor of the Holocaust. Following the outbreak of the war, Barbara and her mother were separated from her father. Traveling on forged papers, Barbara and her mother went to Austria, where he mother worked. Following the end of the war, the two were placed in a DP camp outside of Stuttgart Germany, where they were reunited with Barbara's father. The family emigrated to the United States in 1946. Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 052971467

Steve Collins was born on October 7, 1918 in Posk, Poland--a small town located near Warsaw. Steve recounts life in pre-war Poland and his experiences during the beginning of the Second World War. When the war broke out in 1939, Steve fled to Warsaw and joined the Polish Army to fight the invading German forces. One night during combat, Steve managed to escape back to Posk. In Posk, Steve was placed in the newly formed ghetto. Steve was then transported to Prussia and from there sent to Auschwitz.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 843346223

Simon Cymerath grew up in a close-knit family in Starowicea [Starowice], Poland. When the Germans occupied Starowicea [Starowicea], the family was moved into a ghetto and Simon was first sent to work in a local factory and then to work in a forced labor camp. Simon escaped from the labor camp with the help of a Jewish contractor and returned home to Starowicea [Starowice] where he went back to work in the factory. Soon after, the family was sent to Treblinka where his parents and youngest brother perished; Simon and two other brothers were separated and sent to Auschwitz. Simon survived Auschwitz working as a painter on a Monowitz work detail. In April 1945, the camp was evacuated and the prisoners forced on a death march that ended with their liberation by the Americans. After liberation, Simon worked several years with the American army, reunited with his only surviving brother, and immigrated to the United States in 1950.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 68810108

An interview with Bert Dan, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Kay Roth. Bert Dan was born in Cluj, Romania in 1916. He served as a soldier in the Romanian army at the outbreak of World War II. After the Hungarians occupied Romania, he was arrested and imprisoned for a year; upon his release Bert was drafted into various labor camps and work details throughout Eastern Europe. During a forced march back to Hungary, he escaped with a group of other prisoners and was found by the Russian army. He was freed and eventually returned to Cluj. Bert began to work with Jewish committees helping to locate and assist Hungarian and Romanian Jews returning to their homes from Poland. He eventually set up a committee office in Prague, Czechoslovakia where he was reunited with his fiance. They married after the end of the war and immigrated to the United States in 1949.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 71339357

An interview with Clara Dan, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Kay Roth. Clara Dan was born in Trgu-Mures, Romania (later Hungary) in 1921. Clara was the youngest of three siblings. In the spring of 1944, Clara, her sister and her parents were rounded up and placed in a makeshift ghetto in Koloszvar, Hungary. After several weeks there, they were shipped to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Clara and her sister survived the selection on the ramp and were reunited in the camp. After some time in Auschwitz, Clara and her sister were sent to work in a bullet factory in Hundsfeld. When the Russians came too close to the area, the sisters were marched to Gross Rosen and then sent to Bergen-Belsen where the British Army liberated them. After the war, Clara and her sister were placed in a DP camp in Celle, Germany where they were reunited with their brother.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 62739949

Born in a small town in Hungary, Mrs. Denes moved to Budapest in 1940 with her husband. Her husband was taken to labor camps several times between 1940 and the end of the war. When the Germans occupied Budapest in 1944, Mrs. Denes had two small children, Judy and George. Using false papers, she assumed the identity of an unwed mother and was treated as such by the people around her. She was in Budapest when the Soviet army liberated it. Her husband returned soon after the liberation. Again using false papers, the family fled Hungary after the war and eventually settled in Detroit, Michigan in 1955.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 36451405

Born in Glowaczow, Poland in 1922, Henry Dorfman was one of four children in a large Orthodox family. Following the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Dorfman family continued to live in Glowaczow under an increasing amount of persecution from the Nazi occupation forces. The family was relocated to a large ghetto in Kozienice in 1941. While in the ghetto, Henry and his father were separated from his mother and three siblings and used as laborers on the estate of a Volksdeutsche (native German) aristocrat. Sometime in the fall of 1942, the entire Dorfman family was rounded-up and put on a transport to the Treblinka death camp. Once again, separated from his mother and siblings, Henry and his father escaped from the train. His mother and siblings died en route to, or immediately upon arrival at Treblinka. Following their escape, Henry and his father hid in a barn and were given assistance by one of the workers employed by the Volksdeutsche aristocrat. Later they served in a partisan unit until the area was liberated by the Soviet Army in 1944. Henry remained in Europe for several years following the end of the war, helping his father establish two businesses in d, Poland and establishing his own in Germany. He later moved to the United States with his wife, Mala, whom he met in Poland after the war. Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 50806481

Mala Weintraub Dorfman was born in d, Poland in 1923. When the war broke out in 1939, Mala and three of her five siblings were sent to live with their grandmother in the Kozienice ghetto. Mala worked as a nurse in the ghetto until she was deported to Skarzysko where she worked in an ammunitions factory for two years. She was then deported to Czstochowa where she was liberated a year later by the Russians. After the war, Mala returned to d, married, and was soon reunited with her sisters at Bergen-Belsen. Mala lived with her husband in Germany until their immigration to the United States in 1949.

View Video on YouTube Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: video OCLC#: 70958436

Noemi Engel Ebenstein, born in 1941, is a child survivor of the Holocaust. In her interview she retells stories told to her by her mother about how the family survived the Holocaust. Her father was sent to a forced labor camp when Noemi was a baby. In May 1944, Noemi, her brother and mother were deported from Subotica, Yugoslavia to the camps, first to Strasshof labor and then to Moosbierbaum where they were liberated by the Soviet army.

View Video on YouTube Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: video OCLC#: 38750545

Alexander Ehrmann was born in Kralovsky Chlumec, Czechoslovakia, which became part of Hungary in 1938. His family consisted of himself, his parents, two brothers and three sisters. In 1944 the family was deported to a ghetto and then to Auschwitz where his parents, a sister and her son were killed. After the uprising in the Warsaw ghetto ended, Mr. Ehrmann was transferred from Auschwitz to Warsaw with a labor group to salvage materials from the ghetto. After spending five days in Dachau, he was transferred to Mhldorf, where the inmates were building an underground aircraft factory. When the camp was evacuated, Mr. Ehrmann and other inmates were put on a train and moved back and forth in the unoccupied area until they were liberated by American troops. After the war he was reunited with two sisters and his younger brother.

Original Format: video OCLC#: 32948524

An interview with Anne Eisenberg a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Charlene Green. Anne Eisenberg was born in Slatinske Doly, in Czechoslovakia. As a child, she and her family moved to Sighet. Following the Hungarian annexation of Sighet, Anne's father and brothers were conscripted by Hungarian authorities and sent away for forced labor. In 1944, Annie, along with her sisters, mother and aunt were placed in the ghetto in Sighet and then deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where only her and one sister survived. They were then shipped to the forced labor camp Gelsenkirchen and then to Smmerda. They were liberated near Brno, Czechoslovakia in 1945. Anne was then placed in a DP camp near Linz, Austria. Following a return to Sighet, she immigrated to the United States. Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 58564641

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 Oberscharfhrer Felix. A year later, Luba was deported to Paszw 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

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 76168055

Zyta Eliahu was born in Nadwrna, Poland. Soon after the Germans took over the Sudetenland, Zyta and her parents moved to Podmokly, Czechoslovakia and later to Prague. While in Prague her parents registered Zyta with Nicholas Winton to have her transported to England before the war broke out. She was fostered with a family in Loose, Kent before reuniting with her parents in Israel in 1948.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 261134359

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 Zwoln, 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 Ciepielw, 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

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 55895341

Ruth Federman was born Prostjov Czechoslovakia, spending her early years in Prague. Her mother attempted to send her to England on one of the last of Nicholas Winton's trains. Mrs. Federman's train was turned away and of the 250 children on the transport, only Mrs. Federman and one other passenger survived the Holocaust. Mrs. Federman's mother arranged passage to Palestine for her daughter. She arrived alone at the Port of Tel Aviv in December, 1939.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 318901095

Albert Fein was born in Uzhorod, Czechoslovakia, now Ukraine. Albert and his family lived under Hungarian occupation until they were transported to the Kamenetz-Podolsk ghetto. The Fein family escaped the ghetto by passing as Christians and was sent to Kolomyia where they stayed for the duration of the war. Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 316802616

Sylvia Feld with Nancy Fordonski grew up in a large family of ten children in Zloczew, Poland. Following the Nazi invasion in 1939, Sylvia and Nancy, along with their mother, father and several siblings, fled to the nearby town of Zdunska Wola, where two of her older sisters lived. Following a brief stay there, Sylvia, Nancy and one of their brothers went to stay with their grandmother in Szadek, Poland. Nancy and her family returned to Zdunska Wola where they remained in the ghetto until 1942. When the Germans liquidated the Zdunska Wola ghetto in 1942, Sylvia, Nancy and another sister were sent to the Lodz ghetto and many of her other family members were deported and murdered. Following the liquidation of the ghetto in 1944, they were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. After a brief time, they were shipped to Stutthof and then to Dresden. Following the bombings of that city, Sylvia and Nancy were sent on a forced march to Theresienstadt. During the march, they escaped and hid on a farm near Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) where they were liberated by the American army.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 858940662

An interview with Eugene Feldman, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan--Dearborn. Eugene Feldman was born in the late 1920s in Glinka, Poland. Situated in the Soviet zone of occupation after 1939, Glinka was under Soviet rule until 1941. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Eugene and his family were sent to the nearby ghetto in Stolin. During an Aktion, Eugene, his father, stepmother, and cousin hid from the Germans, escaped from the ghetto and returned to Glinka. They left the village and hid in the countryside, following a band of partisans through White Russia (Belarus). After the war, Eugene went to d, Poland and then on to a DP camp in Freimann, Germany. From there he immigrated to the United States.

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 57175283

Manya was born in Dombrovitsa, Poland in 1923. Her family was orthodox and considerably large, numbering close to 200. Following the outbreak of the war in 1939, the Soviet Union occupied Dombrovitsa. Russian occupation ended however in 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union and Manya's hometown fell into German hands. The Jews in Dombrovitsa immediately felt the effects of German anti-Semitic measures. In August 1942, the Germans liquidated the ghetto in Dombrovitsa and Manya, along with her father, brother and eldest sister escaped into the forest. Her mother and her two sisters remained and they were deported to the nearby town of Sarny where they were murdered. After fleeing the Germans, Manya and her remaining family joined the Kovpak partisan movement. Manya was separated from her father and siblings and spent the remainder of the war hiding in several small villages in the region and serving in different partisan units. Her father and siblings were killed in combat. Following the end of the war, Manya was placed in a DP camp in Berlin. She then emigrated to the United States.

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Original Format: video OCLC#: 50499827

An interview with Lily Fenster, a Holocaust survivor, conducted by Dr. Sidney Bolkosky, Professor of History at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Lily Fenster was born in Warsaw Poland in 1926. After the German invasion of Poland, Lily, along with her mother, father and five sisters, was placed in the Warsaw Ghetto. After some time, Lily was able to escape from the ghetto, leaving her family behind. In the ghetto, her four sisters died from hunger and her father disappeared. After making her way to ukw Podlaski, Lily was able to work on a farm and raised enough money to have her mother smuggled from the ghetto. Within six weeks of the reunion, Lily's mother was deported to Treblinka. Lily, having obtained a Kennkarte, and hiding among the Gentile population was able to evade capture. After her mother's deportation, Lily moved into the main city of ukw Podlaski, where she obtained work as a nurse, until the Russian liberation. While in ukw Podlaski she met her future husband. After the war, Lily, along with several others, made her way to d and then on to Germany. She emigrated to the United States in 1951. Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 55803082

Fred Ferber was born in 1930 in Swietchlowice, Poland in 1930. In 1933, the Ferber family re-located to Chorzow, Poland and then on to Krakw, Poland ca. 1936. Following the German invasion, the Ferbers were forced into the Krakw Ghetto located in Podgorze. In 1943, the family was rounded-up and sent to the Paszw forced labor camp on the outskirts of Krakw. While in Paszw, Fred's father was murdered by the camp's Kommandant, Amon Goethe. Fred worked in the metal and fabric shops in the camp while his mother worked in a labor detail. Fred's brother was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau where he died. Fred was separated from his mother when he was transferred with a number of other prisoners to the Mauthausen forced labor camp in Austria. From there, he was transferred to Gusen II and then to Gunskirchen (both sub-camps of Mauthausen). He was liberated by the American Army in May 1945. Following liberation and a short stay in a Displaced Persons Camp where he recuperated from typhus and dysentery, he returned to Poland to find his family. He was reunited with his mother in Sopot, Poland. After finding his mother and learning the fate of his brother, he moved around Europe until the late 1940s, when he immigrated to America. While in America, Fred stayed in an orphanage in San Francisco while attending school and college. Link to Portraits of Honor Project

Original Format: audio OCLC#: 50504347

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Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive ...

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
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