<p>A transport of Jewish prisoners forced to march through the snow from the Bauschovitz train station to <a href="/narrative/5386">Theresienstadt</a>. Czechoslovakia, 1942.</p>

Oral History

Browse an alphabetical list of survivors’ oral histories. These interviews describe firsthand accounts and personal experiences during the Holocaust and World War II.

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| Displaying results 151-160 of 572 for "Oral History" |

  • Edward Lessing describes wearing the compulsory Jewish badge.

    Oral History

    Edward was born to a Jewish family in The Hague. In 1929, the family moved to the United States. Because his father had difficulty finding employment, Edward and his family returned to the Netherlands in 1932. They were living in the town of Delft and running a small clothing store when war broke out. Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940. Anti-Jewish decrees were instituted, increasing in severity to the point that Jews could no longer own businesses and were forced to wear a yellow badge after May…

    Edward Lessing describes wearing the compulsory Jewish badge.
  • Edward Weiss describes Dachau shortly after the liberation

    Oral History

    GI Edward S. Weiss, a resident of Gaithersburg, Maryland, was at the Dachau concentration camp shortly after its liberation.

    Edward Weiss describes Dachau shortly after the liberation
  • Edwarda Kleinfeld Rorat describes emotions upon liberation

    Oral History

    After the German invasion in 1939, Edwarda and her family left Warsaw and moved to a small village near Lublin. Her parents were murdered by German soldiers in 1942. Edwarda was eventually taken in by the Rorat family. The Rorats owned a village store. She lived under their protection throughout the war and continued to live with them after liberation. She completed her education in Poland and later immigrated to the United States.

    Tags: liberation
    Edwarda Kleinfeld Rorat describes emotions upon liberation
  • Elizabeth Kaufmann Koenig describes helping refugee children in Le Chambon

    Oral History

    Elizabeth and her family were in Paris when war began. As the Germans advanced in 1940, she and her mother fled southward. Elizabeth eventually reached Le Chambon, where she helped care for children sheltered by the town's pastor, Andre Trocme, and his wife. In late 1941 her father was among 1,000 intellectuals who received special US visas from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The family escaped from France in 1942 on one of the last passenger ships to cross the Atlantic during the war.

    Elizabeth Kaufmann Koenig describes helping refugee children in Le Chambon
  • Elizabeth Kaufmann Koenig describes her family's attempt to flee Austria before the war

    Oral History

    Elizabeth and her family were in Paris when war began. As the Germans advanced in 1940, she and her mother fled southward. Elizabeth eventually reached Le Chambon, where she helped care for children sheltered by the town's pastor, Andre Trocme, and his wife. In late 1941 her father was among 1,000 intellectuals who received special US visas from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The family escaped from France in 1942 on one of the last passenger ships to cross the Atlantic during the war.

    Tags: Austria escape
    Elizabeth Kaufmann Koenig describes her family's attempt to flee Austria before the war
  • Elizabeth Kaufmann Koenig describes Pastor Andre Trocme and his wife Magda Trocme
  • Elizabeth Kaufmann Koenig describes the children who were sheltered in La Guespy, a children's home in Le Chambon

    Oral History

    Elizabeth and her family were in Paris when war began. As the Germans advanced in 1940, she and her mother fled southward. Elizabeth eventually reached Le Chambon, where she helped care for children sheltered by the town's pastor, Andre Trocme, and his wife. In late 1941 her father was among 1,000 intellectuals who received special US visas from President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The family escaped from France in 1942 on one of the last passenger ships to cross the Atlantic during the war.

    Elizabeth Kaufmann Koenig describes the children who were sheltered in La Guespy, a children's home in Le Chambon
  • Emanuel (Manny) Mandel describes the "Kasztner train" journey to Bergen-Belsen

    Oral History

    Emanuel's father was a cantor who became, soon after Emanuel was born, one of the chief cantors in Budapest. Germany occupied Hungary in March 1944. Systematic deportations of Jews from Hungary to the Auschwitz camp in occupied Poland began in May 1944. Emanuel and his mother were part of the train, organized by Zionist activist Rezso Kasztner, of over 1,600 Hungarian Jews who were to be sent to neutral countries as part of an exchange program. The train arrived at the Bergen-Belsen camp, where the…

    Emanuel (Manny) Mandel describes the "Kasztner train" journey to Bergen-Belsen
  • Emanuel Tanay describes the establishment of the Miechow ghetto

    Oral History

    Emanuel and his family lived in the small town of Miechow, north of Krakow. After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, persecution of Jews increased. The Germans established a ghetto in Miechow. Emanuel was forced to live in the ghetto. Emanuel, his mother, and his sister escaped from the ghetto before it was destroyed in 1942. He stayed in a monastery, under an assumed identity, along with members of the Polish underground. Emanuel left the monastery after about a year when a teacher began to suspect…

    Tags: ghettos
    Emanuel Tanay describes the establishment of the Miechow ghetto
  • Ernest G. Heppner describes arrival in Shanghai

    Oral History

    Ernest's family owned a factory that made matzah, the unleavened bread eaten during Passover. In February 1939, three months after Kristallnacht (the "Night of Broken Glass" pogroms), Ernest and his mother fled to Shanghai, one of few havens for refugees without visas. His father and sister stayed behind in Germany; they perished during the Holocaust. A brother escaped to England. Ernest and his mother found work in Shanghai. In 1947, he came to the United States with his wife, whom he met and married in…

    Ernest G. Heppner describes arrival in Shanghai

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