You searched for: death marches

death marches

Category: Oral History

Clear all

| Displaying results 76-100 of 105 for "death marches" |

  • Kurt Klein describes some of the difficulties involved in emigrating from Germany

    Oral History

    As Nazi anti-Jewish policy intensified, Kurt's family decided to leave Germany. Kurt left for the United States in 1937, but his parents were unable to leave before the outbreak of World War II. Kurt's parents were eventually deported to Auschwitz, in German-occupied Poland. In 1942, Kurt joined the United States Army and was trained in military intelligence. In Europe, he interrogated prisoners of war. In May 1945, he took part in the surrender of a village in Czechoslovakia and returned the next day to…

    Tags: immigration
    Kurt Klein describes some of the difficulties involved in emigrating from Germany
  • Miso (Michael) Vogel describes the brutality of SS guards towards new arrivals at Auschwitz

    Oral History

    In 1939, Slovak fascists took over Topol'cany, where Miso lived. In 1942, Miso was deported to the Slovak-run Novaky camp and then to Auschwitz. At Auschwitz, he was tattooed with the number 65,316, indicating that 65,315 prisoners preceded him in that series of numbering. He was forced to labor in the Buna works and then in the Birkenau "Kanada" detachment, unloading incoming trains. In late 1944, prisoners were transferred to camps in Germany. Miso escaped during a death march from Landsberg and was…

    Tags: SS Auschwitz
    Miso (Michael) Vogel describes the brutality of SS guards towards new arrivals at Auschwitz
  • Sam Itzkowitz describes forced labor in the gravel pits of Auschwitz

    Oral History

    The Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. When Makow was occupied, Sam fled to Soviet territory. He returned to Makow for provisions, but was forced to remain in the ghetto. In 1942, he was deported to Auschwitz. As the Soviet army advanced in 1944, Sam and other prisoners were sent to camps in Germany. The inmates were put on a death march early in 1945. American forces liberated Sam after he escaped during a bombing raid.

    Sam Itzkowitz describes forced labor in the gravel pits of Auschwitz
  • Siegfried Halbreich describes arrival at and conditions in the Sachsenhausen camp

    Oral History

    After Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Siegfried fled with a friend. They attempted to get papers allowing them to go to France, but were turned over to the Germans. Siegfried was jailed, taken to Berlin, and then transported to the Sachsenhausen camp near Berlin in October 1939. He was among the first Polish Jews imprisoned in Sachsenhausen. Inmates were mistreated and made to carry out forced labor. After two years, Siegfried was deported to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, where he was…

    Siegfried Halbreich describes arrival at and conditions in the Sachsenhausen camp
  • Henny Fletcher Aronsen describes living conditions in the Kovno ghetto

    Oral History

    Henny was born into an upper-middle-class Jewish family in Kovno, Lithuania. She and her brother attended private schools. In June 1940 the Soviets occupied Lithuania, but little seemed to change until the German invasion in June 1941. The Germans sealed off a ghetto in Kovno in August 1941. Henny and her family were forced to move into the ghetto. Henny married in the ghetto in November 1943; her dowry was a pound of sugar. She survived several roundups during which some of her friends and family were…

    Tags: Kovno ghettos
    Henny Fletcher Aronsen describes living conditions in the Kovno ghetto
  • Gerda Weissmann Klein describes the Bolkenhain subcamp of Gross-Rosen and a camp leader there

    Oral History

    In 1939, Gerda's brother was deported for forced labor. In June 1942, Gerda's family was deported from the Bielsko ghetto. While her parents were transported to Auschwitz, Gerda was sent to the Gross-Rosen camp system, where for the remainder of the war she performed forced labor in textile factories. Gerda was liberated after a death march, wearing the ski boots her father insisted would help her to survive. She married her American liberator.

    Tags: Gross-Rosen
    Gerda Weissmann Klein describes the Bolkenhain subcamp of Gross-Rosen and a camp leader there
  • Lucine Horn describes obtaining false papers to assume the identity of an "Aryan" outside the Warsaw ghetto

    Oral History

    Lucine was born to a Jewish family in Lublin. Her father was a court interpreter and her mother was a dentist. War began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. Lucine's home was raided by German forces shortly thereafter. Soon after the German occupation of Lublin, Jews there were forced to wear a compulsory badge identifying them as Jews. A ghetto in Lublin was closed off in January 1942. Lucine survived a series of killing campaigns and deportations from the ghetto during March and…

    Lucine Horn describes obtaining false papers to assume the identity of an "Aryan" outside the Warsaw ghetto
  • Thomas Buergenthal describes being reprieved from a massacre of children while he was in a forced-labor camp in Kielce

    Oral History

    Thomas's family moved to Zilina in 1938. As the Slovak Hlinka Guard increased its harassment of Jews, the family decided to leave. Thomas and his family ultimately entered Poland, but the German invasion in September 1939 prevented them from leaving for Great Britain. The family ended up in Kielce, where a ghetto was established in April 1941. When the Kielce ghetto was liquidated in August 1942, Thomas and his family avoided the deportations to Treblinka that occurred in the same month. They were sent…

    Thomas Buergenthal describes being reprieved from a massacre of children while he was in a forced-labor camp in Kielce
  • Wilek (William) Loew describes the hiding place in which his mother survived an Aktion in Lvov

    Oral History

    Wilek was the son of Jewish parents living in the southeastern Polish town of Lvov. His family owned and operated a winery that had been in family hands since 1870. Wilek's father died of a heart attack in 1929. Wilek entered secondary school in 1939. Soon after he began school, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. Lvov was in the part of eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets took over Wilek's home and the family business, Wilek was able to continue his…

    Tags: hiding Lvov
    Wilek (William) Loew describes the hiding place in which his mother survived an Aktion in Lvov
  • David (Dudi) Bergman describes being rescued by inmates before he could be taken to the Dachau crematorium

    Oral History

    The Germans occupied David's town, previously annexed by Hungary, in 1944. David was deported to Auschwitz and, with his father, transported to Plaszow. David was sent to the Gross-Rosen camp and to Reichenbach. He was then among three of 150 in a cattle car who survived transportation to Dachau. He was liberated after a death march from Innsbruck toward the front line of combat between US and German troops.

    Tags: rescue
    David (Dudi) Bergman describes being rescued by inmates before he could be taken to the Dachau crematorium
  • Steven Springfield describes conditions in the Stutthof concentration camp

    Oral History

    The Germans occupied Riga in 1941, and confined the Jews to a ghetto. In late 1941, at least 25,000 Jews from the ghetto were massacred at the Rumbula forest, near Riga. Steven and his brother were sent to a small ghetto for able-bodied men. In 1943 Steven was deported to the Kaiserwald camp and sent to a nearby work camp. In 1944 he was transferred to Stutthof and forced to work in a shipbuilding firm. In 1945, Steven and his brother survived a death march and were liberated by Soviet forces.

    Tags: Stutthof
    Steven Springfield describes conditions in the Stutthof concentration camp
  • Henny Fletcher Aronsen describes the importance she attached to the role of cleanliness in surviving forced labor at Stutthof

    Oral History

    Henny was born into an upper-middle-class Jewish family in Kovno, Lithuania. She and her brother attended private schools. In June 1940 the Soviets occupied Lithuania, but little seemed to change until the German invasion in June 1941. The Germans sealed off a ghetto in Kovno in August 1941. Henny and her family were forced to move into the ghetto. Henny married in the ghetto in November 1943; her dowry was a pound of sugar. She survived several roundups during which some of her friends and family were…

    Tags: forced labor
    Henny Fletcher Aronsen describes the importance she attached to the role of cleanliness in surviving forced labor at Stutthof
  • William (Bill) Lowenberg describes Zionist and cultural activities in the Westerbork camp

    Oral History

    As a boy, Bill attended school in Burgsteinfurt, a German town near the Dutch border. After the Nazis came to power in Germany in January 1933, Bill experienced increasing antisemitism and was once attacked on his way to Hebrew school by a boy who threw a knife at him. In 1936, he and his family left Germany for the Netherlands, where they had relatives and thought they would be safe. However, after Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, antisemitic legislation--including the order to wear the Jewish…

    William (Bill) Lowenberg describes Zionist and cultural activities in the Westerbork camp
  • Leah Hammerstein Silverstein describes starvation in the Warsaw ghetto

    Oral History

    Leah grew up in Praga, a suburb of Warsaw, Poland. She was active in the Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa'ir Zionist youth movement. Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. Jews were forced to live in the Warsaw ghetto, which the Germans sealed off in November 1940. In the ghetto, Leah lived with a group of Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa'ir members. In September 1941, she and other members of the youth group escaped from the ghetto to a Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa'ir farm in Zarki, near Czestochowa, Poland. In May 1942, Leah became a courier…

    Leah Hammerstein Silverstein describes starvation in the Warsaw ghetto
  • Thomas Buergenthal describes a forced-labor camp in Kielce

    Oral History

    Thomas's family moved to Zilina in 1938. As the Slovak Hlinka Guard increased its harassment of Jews, the family decided to leave. Thomas and his family ultimately entered Poland, but the German invasion in September 1939 prevented them from leaving for Great Britain. The family ended up in Kielce, where a ghetto was established in April 1941. When the Kielce ghetto was liquidated in August 1942, Thomas and his family avoided the deportations to Treblinka that occurred in the same month. They were sent…

    Thomas Buergenthal describes a forced-labor camp in Kielce
  • Henny Fletcher Aronsen describes arrival at the Stutthof camp

    Oral History

    Henny was born into an upper-middle-class Jewish family in Kovno, Lithuania. She and her brother attended private schools. In June 1940 the Soviets occupied Lithuania, but little seemed to change until the German invasion in June 1941. The Germans sealed off a ghetto in Kovno in August 1941. Henny and her family were forced to move into the ghetto. Henny married in the ghetto in November 1943; her dowry was a pound of sugar. She survived several roundups during which some of her friends and family were…

    Tags: Stutthof
    Henny Fletcher Aronsen describes arrival at the Stutthof camp
  • Sam Itzkowitz describes the gas chambers in Auschwitz

    Oral History

    The Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. When Makow was occupied, Sam fled to Soviet territory. He returned to Makow for provisions, but was forced to remain in the ghetto. In 1942, he was deported to Auschwitz. As the Soviet army advanced in 1944, Sam and other prisoners were sent to camps in Germany. The inmates were put on a death march early in 1945. American forces liberated Sam after he escaped during a bombing raid.

    Sam Itzkowitz describes the gas chambers in Auschwitz
  • Barbara Marton Farkas describes assistance from the Red Cross at the end of the war

    Oral History

    Describes assistance from the Red Cross at the end of the war

    Barbara Marton Farkas describes assistance from the Red Cross at the end of the war
  • Wilek (William) Loew describes Budapest after he escaped from the Lvov ghetto and before the German occupation of Hungary

    Oral History

    Wilek was the son of Jewish parents living in the southeastern Polish town of Lvov. His family owned and operated a winery that had been in family hands since 1870. Wilek's father died of a heart attack in 1929. Wilek entered secondary school in 1939. Soon after he began school, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. Lvov was in the part of eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets took over Wilek's home and the family business, Wilek was able to continue his…

    Wilek (William) Loew describes Budapest after he escaped from the Lvov ghetto and before the German occupation of Hungary
  • Wilek (William) Loew describes Jewish life in prewar Lvov, including restrictions on admission to schools

    Oral History

    Wilek was the son of Jewish parents living in the southeastern Polish town of Lvov. His family owned and operated a winery that had been in family hands since 1870. Wilek's father died of a heart attack in 1929. Wilek entered secondary school in 1939. Soon after he began school, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. Lvov was in the part of eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets took over Wilek's home and the family business, Wilek was able to continue his…

    Wilek (William) Loew describes Jewish life in prewar Lvov, including restrictions on admission to schools
  • Wilek (William) Loew describes political prison in Budapest after the Germans arrested him as a Polish spy

    Oral History

    Wilek was the son of Jewish parents living in the southeastern Polish town of Lvov. His family owned and operated a winery that had been in family hands since 1870. Wilek's father died of a heart attack in 1929. Wilek entered secondary school in 1939. Soon after he began school, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland. Lvov was in the part of eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets took over Wilek's home and the family business, Wilek was able to continue his…

    Wilek (William) Loew describes political prison in Budapest after the Germans arrested him as a Polish spy
  • Nesse Galperin Godin describes a roundup in the Siauliai ghetto

    Oral History

    Nesse's family had a dairy business. The Germans occupied Lithuania in 1941 and established a ghetto in Siauliai. Nesse lived in the ghetto until 1943 when she was old enough to work. In 1944 Nesse, her mother, and a brother were deported to the Stutthof camp near Danzig. Nesse worked in several Stutthof subcamps until January 1945, when the inmates were put on a death march. She was liberated by the Soviets in March. Nesse, her mother, and two brothers survived, and she arrived in the United States in…

    Nesse Galperin Godin describes a roundup in the Siauliai ghetto
  • Henny Fletcher Aronsen describes a roundup in the Kovno ghetto

    Oral History

    Henny was born into an upper-middle-class Jewish family in Kovno, Lithuania. She and her brother attended private schools. In June 1940 the Soviets occupied Lithuania, but little seemed to change until the German invasion in June 1941. The Germans sealed off a ghetto in Kovno in August 1941. Henny and her family were forced to move into the ghetto. Henny married in the ghetto in November 1943; her dowry was a pound of sugar. She survived several roundups during which some of her friends and family were…

    Tags: Kovno
    Henny Fletcher Aronsen describes a roundup in the Kovno ghetto
  • William (Bill) Lowenberg describes forced labor in the Kaufering subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp

    Oral History

    As a boy, Bill attended school in Burgsteinfurt, a German town near the Dutch border. After the Nazis came to power in Germany in January 1933, Bill experienced increasing antisemitism and was once attacked on his way to Hebrew school by a boy who threw a knife at him. In 1936, he and his family left Germany for the Netherlands, where they had relatives and thought they would be safe. However, after Germany invaded the Netherlands in May 1940, antisemitic legislation--including the order to wear the Jewish…

    William (Bill) Lowenberg describes forced labor in the Kaufering subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp
  • Sam Itzkowitz describes the first moments of liberation

    Oral History

    The Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. When Makow was occupied, Sam fled to Soviet territory. He returned to Makow for provisions, but was forced to remain in the ghetto. In 1942, he was deported to Auschwitz. As the Soviet army advanced in 1944, Sam and other prisoners were sent to camps in Germany. The inmates were put on a death march early in 1945. American forces liberated Sam after he escaped during a bombing raid.

    Tags: liberation
    Sam Itzkowitz describes the first moments of liberation

Thank you for supporting our work

We would like to thank Crown Family Philanthropies and the Abe and Ida Cooper Foundation for supporting the ongoing work to create content and resources for the Holocaust Encyclopedia. View the list of all donors.