Meet our Survivor Volunteers

Frank Ephraim

“The way the trip went was we left one evening, went to the local railroad station in Berlin, that at that time was called Anhalterbahnhof. It no longer exists as such. Hopped on a train. It was a sleeper. We went overnight, changed in Munich, next morning, and from there we began to head toward Italy, the border. We went through Austria, and the train was stopped in Brenner, Brenner pass, which is the border between Austria and Italy. There everybody had to get out. The German side, we were searched, body search, all the luggage was searched. That delayed everything. The train left without us. We had to wait another six hours for the next train.”
(postwar testimony)

Other Survivor Volunteers »

Survivor Volunteers

« Other Survivor Volunteers

Born February 25, 1927, in Radom, Poland
Died October 6, 2002, in Potomac, MD

We note with sadness the death of United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Survivor Volunteer Irving Horn. Irving volunteered in the Museum’s Registry of Holocaust Survivors. Mr. Horn created Polish language translations for the Registry and was especially helpful in translating the unique historical source “Obozy hitlerowskie na ziemiach polskich 1939-1945” for use in listing the fates of Jewish communities in Poland.

Isachar was born to a Jewish family in the Polish city of Radom, approximately 75 miles south of Warsaw. The city was the center of Poland’s leather-tanning industry. Isachar’s father worked as a salesman for a nearby tanning factory. His father was a successful salesman and the family lived comfortably.

1933-39: During registration for my first-grade class in 1934, a Jewish boy was pushed down the stairs. When my mother confronted the principal about the incident, all he said was that the boy had no business being there. As the only Jew in my class, I was beaten up often. It was hard to keep my mind on my work. After a year, I transferred to another school. Other Jewish boys studied there, so we at least had a chance to fight back.

1940-44: A ghetto was set up in Radom in 1941. Three years later, when I was 17, I was deported to a subcamp of Natzweiler to build an airstrip. Desperate for food, I sneaked away from my work detail to a farm owned by a woman who cooked for the camp’s German guards. About to reach into the produce shed, I suddenly felt a gun in my back. “Hands up!” I turned around. “My God, you’re only a baby,” she said. “We’re short on potatoes,” she added quietly, and left. Taking garlic and carrots, I sneaked back to my detail.

In April 1945 Isachar was transported from Dachau into Austria where his guards deserted his column. Liberated by the U.S. Army, he emigrated to the United States in 1948.

Why I Volunteer

I volunteer in the USHMM because I would like to contribute my first hand knowledge of the events that happened during the Holocaust to preserve the facts from being distorted. I would like to utilize my knowledge of pertinent languages to translate and digitize existing data for future researchers on the subject of the Holocaust. I enjoy working in a stimulating environment.