First Person Podcast Series

This podcast series features excerpts from interviews with Holocaust survivors presented at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s public program, First Person — Conversations with Holocaust Survivors. More than sixty years after the Holocaust, hatred, antisemitism, and genocide still threaten our world. The life stories of Holocaust survivors transcend the decades and remind us of the constant need to be vigilant citizens and to stop injustice, prejudice, and hatred wherever and whenever they occur. Subscribe to First Person — Conversations with Holocaust Survivors as a podcast or listen to individual programs online.

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Displaying 1 to 10 of 31 events

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Isak Danon: Attack on the Synagogue in Split

June 30, 2009

Isak Danon discusses the attack on the synagogue in his hometown of Split, Yugoslavia in the summer of 1942. Germany had invaded Yugoslavia in April 1941, and shortly after Split was occupied by the Italians, allied to Nazi Germany.

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Tags: Italian Fascists, Yugoslavia

Fritz Gluckstein: Berlin in the Aftermath of World War II

June 24, 2009

Fritz Gluckstein discusses life immediately after WWII in Berlin and his eventual immigration to the United States. Fritz was born to a Jewish father and Christian mother and under Nazi law was classified as Mischlinge, of mixed ancestry, or part Jewish. Fritz spent the war in Berlin assigned to various forced labor battalions.

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Tags: Berlin, Emigration, Liberation, Separation from family

Helen Luksenburg: Forming a Friendship in Gleiwitz

June 23, 2009

Helen Luksenburg discusses forming a close friendship with Welek, now William Luksenburg, a fellow prisoner in Gleiwitz, a sub-camp of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

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Tags: Auschwitz, Gleiwitz, Hope, Poland

Louise Lawrence-Israels: First Days of Freedom

June 17, 2009

Louise Lawrence-Israels discusses her first memories of freedom after over 2 years spent in hiding with her family in an apartment in Amsterdam. In May, 1945, Canadian forces liberated Amsterdam. Louise was 3 years old and initially had difficulty adjusting to the world outside the apartment, having never been outside for the duration of the hiding.

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Tags: Hidden children, Liberation, The Netherlands

David Bayer: Life After the German Invasion of Poland

June 16, 2009

David Bayer discusses life in his hometown of Kozienice after the German invasion of Poland in September, 1939. Shortly after the invasion David and his family were harassed, humiliated, and subjected to acts of violence by the German occupiers and their collaborators.

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Tags: Humiliation, Life before, Poland

Susan Taube: Deportation to the Riga Ghetto

June 9, 2009

Susan Taube discusses her deportation from Berlin to the ghetto in Riga, Latvia and the days immediately following. Susan was deported in January, 1942 along with her mother, sister, and grandmother.

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Tags: Berlin, Deportation, Ghetto, Separation from family

Morris Rosen: Forced Evacuation

June 3, 2009

Morris Rosen discusses his evacuation and forced march on foot in February 1945 from a sub camp of the Gross Rosen concentration camp in Poland to the Theresienstadt camp in Czechoslovakia. In an effort meant to cover up their crimes and prevent prisoners from falling into enemy hands, Nazi officials evacuated prisoners from camp to camp in what became known as death marches.

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Tags: Death march, Faith, Hope, Hunger

Esther Starobin: Fate of Family that Remained in Germany

June 2, 2009

Esther Starobin and her three sisters left Germany for Great Britain in 1939 as part of a special rescue of Jewish children known as the Kindertransport or children’s transport. In this episode, Esther discusses how she learned the fate of her parents and brother who remained in Germany after she and her sisters had left.

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Tags: England, Kindertransport, Refugee, Separation from family

Manya Friedman: Death March to Ravensbrück

May 27, 2009

Manya Friedman discusses her evacuation from Gleiwitz, a sub-camp of Auschwitz, to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in January 1945. In an effort to cover up their crimes and prevent prisoners from falling into enemy hands, the Nazis evacuated prisoners in what became known as death marches.

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Tags: Concentration camp, Death march, Gleiwitz, Hunger, Poland, Ravensbrück

Gerald Liebenau: Memories of Kristallnacht

May 26, 2009

In today’s episode Gerald Liebenau discusses his memories of Kristallnacht, also known as the “Night of Broken Glass.” On November 9-10, 1938 a wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms erupted around Germany, leaving Jewish owned businesses and synagogues plundered and destroyed.

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Tags: Berlin, Kristallnacht