Category: Oral History

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  • Ruth Berkowicz Segal describes receiving visa to leave Lithuania

    Oral History

    When German forces invaded Poland in September 1939, Ruth's father fled to eastern Poland. Upon the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland, he fled to Lithuania. Ruth left Warsaw with two friends to find her father and later joined him in Vilna. After Soviet forces occupied Lithuania, Ruth and her father obtained transit visas for Japan, but only Ruth obtained a Soviet exit visa. Her father insisted she leave and not wait for him. Ruth traveled by the Trans-Siberian Railroad across the Soviet Union to…

    Tags: Japan refugees
    Ruth Berkowicz Segal describes receiving visa to leave Lithuania
  • Lucille Szepsenwol Camhi describes saying goodbye to her mother when leaving for Vilna with her sister

    Oral History

    Lucille's father died three months before she was born. Lucille's mother decided to immigrate to the United States with Lucille and her sister, Fejga. They completed all the paperwork, but were unable to get their final papers because of the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Volozhin was in the Soviet-occupied zone of Poland. Lucille and her sister feared arrest by the Soviets because they were members of a Jewish Zionist youth group. The girls fled to Vilna, where their mother later joined them. Their…

    Tags: escape
    Lucille Szepsenwol Camhi describes saying goodbye to her mother when leaving for Vilna with her sister
  • Lucille Szepsenwol Camhi describes obtaining Japanese transit visas from Chiune Sugihara in Kovno

    Oral History

    Lucille's father died three months before she was born. Lucille's mother decided to immigrate to the United States with Lucille and her sister, Fejga. They completed all the paperwork, but were unable to get their final papers because of the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Volozhin was in the Soviet-occupied zone of Poland. Lucille and her sister feared arrest by the Soviets because they were members of a Jewish Zionist youth group. The girls fled to Vilna, where their mother later joined them. Their…

    Lucille Szepsenwol Camhi describes obtaining Japanese transit visas from Chiune Sugihara in Kovno
  • Leo Melamed describes life as a refugee

    Oral History

    Leo was seven years old when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. Before the war, Leo's father was a mathematics teacher and member of the Bialystok City Council. Fearing arrest, Leo's father fled Bialystok for Vilna just before the German occupation. Leo and his mother eventually joined his father in Vilna. After the Soviets occupied Vilna, Leo's father obtained transit visas to Japan. The family left Vilna in December 1940, traveled across the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Express, and arrived…

    Tags: refugees
    Leo Melamed describes life as a refugee
  • Ruth Berkowicz Segal describes journey to and arrival in Japan

    Oral History

    When German forces invaded Poland in September 1939, Ruth's father fled to eastern Poland. Upon the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland, he fled to Lithuania. Ruth left Warsaw with two friends to find her father and later joined him in Vilna. After Soviet forces occupied Lithuania, Ruth and her father obtained transit visas for Japan, but only Ruth obtained a Soviet exit visa. Her father insisted she leave and not wait for him. Ruth traveled by the Trans-Siberian Railroad across the Soviet Union to…

    Tags: Japan refugees
    Ruth Berkowicz Segal describes journey to and arrival in Japan
  • Leo Melamed describes train ride across the Soviet Union

    Oral History

    Leo was seven years old when Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. Before the war, Leo's father was a mathematics teacher and member of the Bialystok City Council. Fearing arrest, Leo's father fled Bialystok for Vilna just before the German occupation. Leo and his mother eventually joined his father in Vilna. After the Soviets occupied Vilna, Leo's father obtained transit visas to Japan. The family left Vilna in December 1940, traveled across the Soviet Union on the Trans-Siberian Express, and arrived…

    Tags: escape
    Leo Melamed describes train ride across the Soviet Union
  • 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
  • Ernest G. Heppner describes the random nature of receiving passes to enter and exit the Shanghai ghetto area

    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 the random nature of receiving passes to enter and exit the Shanghai ghetto area
  • Ernest G. Heppner describes the Shanghai ghetto and its Japanese overseer

    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…

    Tags: Shanghai
    Ernest G. Heppner describes the Shanghai ghetto and its Japanese overseer
  • Nina Kaleska describes the formation of the ghettos in Grodno

    Oral History

    Nina and her family were confined in a ghetto after the Germans entered Grodno in 1941. Her parents and then her sister perished after deportation to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Nina survived in the camp for two years. As the Soviet army advanced in 1945, Nina and other inmates from the camp were transferred first to the Ravensbrueck camp in Germany and then to the Retzof-am-Richlin camp. Nina was liberated in May 1945, during a forced march from the camp.

    Tags: ghettos
    Nina Kaleska describes the formation of the ghettos in Grodno

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