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Meet our Survivor Volunteers

Manya Friedman

Manya was born in Chmielnik, a small town in central Poland with a Jewish community that dated to the 16th century. Her father owned a furniture shop and her mother took care of the home. Manya had two younger brothers, David and Mordechai, and was surrounded by many close relatives. She attended both public and Hebrew schools and had many friends.

Other Survivor Volunteers »

Memory Project

A sense of duty and obligation to share experiences and memories is real and present for many Holocaust survivors. The Memory Project provides participants - survivors who are volunteering at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum – with a powerful outlet through which to bear witness. These guided writing workshops strengthen the ability of our survivor writers to recount their experiences for their families and for the historical record. This is one more way that the Museum helps survivors – eyewitnesses to the Holocaust - to teach new generations about hatred, intolerance, and indifference, and to expand our understanding of Holocaust history from a deeply personal perspective. The Memory Project is based on the “Leave-A-Legacy” Writing Workshops developed by the Drew University Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study, to whom we are grateful for training and guidance in establishing this important program.

PDF versions of volumes 1–5 are available.





Susan Warsinger Esther Starobin Marcel Drimer Frank Ephraim Erika Eckstut Harry Markowicz Louise Lawrence-Israels Flora Singer Alfred Traum Nesse Godin Charlene Schiff Agi Geva Rabbi Jacob G. Wiener Manya Friedman Ruth Cohen Estelle Laughlin Martin Weiss Pete Philipps Halina Yasharoff Peabody Fritz Gluckstein



 

The USHMM’s Guidelines for Conducting Oral Histories provides guidance on many aspects of conducting an interview. These pointers can also be helpful as a starting point to organize your thoughts and focus on topics of special interest for a writing project.