I think what has been most influential on me throughout my learning on the Holocaust is the survivor's stories. I think that reading the history of the Holocaust is can be intense but the personal stories that are filled with real emotion allows you to understand this time on a whole different level. In my class we watched a Spielberg documentary called The Last Days which documented 5 different survivors’ stories. This was so emotional to watch, not only did you hear their tragic stories of the most unimaginable things but you saw such a emotion while they spoke about it. These people cried and spoke with clear pain while telling their story even after so many years. I just find some of the stories so amazing and at the same time very hard to hear. I decided to look for other survivor's stories to summarize and share on here.
Hanna Cohen:
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| Hanna with daughter Julianne 1947 [http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ar/belzec/belzecescape.html] |
Her family had lived in Lublin, Poland for centuries. When the Nazis came to town she escaped to Warsaw but during this escape she was caught by the Germany railway police. She was thrown into jail with many of other Jewish people for a week and thrown on a train to Lwow. Taken on to a freight train with many other people, she was asked to remove all of her clothes, belongings and shoes. The train she was in was one of ones that were thought to be taken straight to the gas chambers. One of the people in charge let her keep her shoes because she was pretty. She took the shoe and knocked out the iron grid in the window. She climbed out and was shot at over and over without ever getting hit. She then ran into the woods near the track to a field where a peasant was working. The peasant brought her food and she just kept on walking. She would only walk during the nights and stay hidden during the days. She made it back to Lwow where she entered a labor camp. The Soviet Army librated Lwow from the Nazis and she returned to Lublin as soon as possible. She slowly learned that her grandmother, father, brother, and mother had been murdered.
Sonia Lewkowicz:
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| Remains of Treblinka Camp #1 [http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/survivor/sonialewkowicz.html] |
Sonia grew up in the city of Dombrowa in Poland. Dombrowa became a temporary camp May 1942 to November 1942. At age 20, she was taken to the Treblinka camp. In line on her way to the crematory she was told by a Jewish prisoner to tell the guards that she was a qualified laundress. The SS man believed her and she was removed from the line along with only one other person. She was then brought to camp one and given the job of a laundress and never saw any of the people from that line again. She lived with 25 other women in one room for a while until she was moved to camp #2. Here she worked in the kitchen and then with laundry again. The gas chambers and crematories were located on this same camp and she would regularly hear screaming and crying. On August 2, 1943 she escaped during the uprising.
Fanny Wald:
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| Fanny Wald [http://www.wsherc.org/center/survivorstories/FannyW.aspx] |
Fanny grew up in South-western Poland. When the Nazis took over her town she tried to stay at home as much as possible to try and avoid being abused or assaulted. One day when her sister did not come home she went and found her at the jail. She was in jail for not having a work card, Fanny gave her sister her own work card and took her place. At age 14, Fanny was taken from jail to a camp called Oberalstadt in Czechoslovakia. Here she was just a number and this was the number on the dog-like tags they were given. She survived 5 ½ years in camp where she was beaten regularly and given very little food. One day she was caught bringing food to some of the sick prisoners and was beaten so badly that she severely injured one of her kidneys. One of the other guards who was much more sympathetic saved her life by getting her treatment by saying she was only have Jewish. The camp was liberated in 1945 by English Prisoners of War. Every single one of her family members had been murdered during these 5 ½ years. After being liberated she went to a displaced persons camp where she met her husband Ziegmund Wald and immigrated to America.
George Elbaum:
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| George with his mother after the war was over. [http://www.wsherc.org/center/survivorstories/GeorgeE.aspx] |
George grew up in Warsaw and was 1 years old when Hitler invaded Poland and the war began. A few weeks after the invasion his father left with the army and he never saw him again. Within just a few years dozens of his family members were killed. He was left with his Mother who died her hair and got fake identification to protect herself. George himself did not look Jewish so his mother was able to get him out of the Warsaw Ghetto and paid different families to take care of him. His mother would visit him time to time to make sure he was okay. He spent 4 years living back and forth with different Polish families. Then he was to be sent to Palestine but only made it to France because of a broken leg. He was sent back to Poland and was able to leave with his Mother in 1949 to move to the United States. Even though he was not placed in a concentration camp, he says that those young years of his life brought him much pain and still bring him pain. He now writes a blog about his life including his experiences during this time, you can access this blog at: http://neitheryesterdays.com/
Resources:
Web, Chris. "Sonia Lewkowicz - Holocaust Survivors Stories Www.HolocaustResearchProject.org." Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. H.E.A.R.T, 2009. Web. 10 Dec. 2011. http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/survivor/sonialewkowicz.html.
"WSHERC: Stories of Local Holocaust Survivors." Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center. WSHERC, 2010. Web. 9 Dec. 2011. <http://www.wsherc.org/center/survivorstories/survivorstories.aspx>.
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