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Personal Histories

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ghettos

"The hunger in the ghetto was so great, was so bad, that people were laying on the streets and dying."

"And then we were being marched down the streets where there was the small ghetto."

"Fifteen thousand of our people were massacred in that particular day."

"Empty streets, open windows, flowing curtains blowing with the wind. No people."

"The entire sky of Warsaw was red. Completely red."

  • "The hunger in the ghetto was so great, was so bad, that people were laying on the streets and dying."

  • Channa Morgensztern

    Channa Morgensztern

    Born ca. 1896
    Kaluszyn, Poland

    ID Card

  • Nanny Gottschalk Lewin

    Nanny Gottschalk Lewin

    Born March 13, 1888
    Schlawe, Germany

    ID Card

  • Charlene Schiff

    Charlene Schiff

    Born 1929
    Horochow, Poland

    Describes conditions in the Horochow ghetto
    Oral History

  • Henny Fletcher Aronsen

    Henny Fletcher Aronsen

    Born 1924
    Kovno, Lithuania

    Describes living conditions in the Kovno ghetto
    Oral History

  • Abraham Lewent

    Abraham Lewent

    Born 1924
    Warsaw, Poland

    Describes conditions in the Warsaw ghetto
    Oral History

  • Beno Helmer

    Beno Helmer

    Born 1923
    Teplice-Sanov, Czechoslovakia

    Describes conditions in the Lodz ghetto
    Oral History

Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

  • "And then we were being marched down the streets where there was the small ghetto."

  • Emanuel Tanay

    Emanuel Tanay

    Born 1928
    Wilno, Poland

    Describes the establishment of the Miechow ghetto
    Oral History

  • Nina Kaleska

    Nina Kaleska

    Born 1929
    Grodno, Poland

    Describes formation of the ghettos in Grodno
    Oral History

  • Rochelle Blackman Slivka

    Rochelle Blackman Slivka

    Born 1922
    Vilna, Poland

    Describes the formation of the Vilna ghetto
    Oral History

  • Nesse Galperin Godin

    Nesse Galperin Godin

    Born 1928
    Siauliai, Lithuania

    Describes the formation of the Siauliai ghetto
    Oral History

  • Madeline Deutsch

    Madeline Deutsch

    Born 1930
    Berehovo (Beregszasz), Czechoslovakia

    Describes ghettoization in Hungary
    Oral History

Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

  • "Fifteen thousand of our people were massacred in that particular day."

  • Else Rosenberg

    Else Rosenberg

    Born February 21, 1891
    Hamburg, Germany

    ID Card

  • Moishe Menyuk

    Moishe Menyuk

    Born 1896
    Komarovo, Poland

    ID Card

  • Chaia Gurvitz

    Chaia Gurvitz

    Born ca. 1876
    Lithuania

    ID Card

  • Pola Nussbaum

    Pola Nussbaum

    Born September 1922
    Raczki, Poland

    ID Card

  • Steven Springfield

    Steven Springfield

    Born 1923
    Riga, Latvia

    Describes massacre in the Rumbula forest near Riga, Latvia
    Oral History

  • Abraham Malnik

    Abraham Malnik

    Born 1927
    Kovno, Lithuania

    Describes massacre in Kovno's Ninth Fort, near the Kovno ghetto
    Oral History

  • Frima L.

    Frima L.

    Born 1936
    Volochisk, Soviet Union

    Describes roundup of Jews for mobile killing unit (Einsatzgruppen) massacre
    Oral History

Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

  • "Empty streets, open windows, flowing curtains blowing with the wind. No people."

  • Chaia Gurvitz

    Chaia Gurvitz

    Born ca. 1876
    Lithuania

    ID Card

  • Kathe Ert Reichstein

    Kathe Ert Reichstein

    Born June 7, 1882
    Hanover, Germany

    ID Card

  • Cecilie Klein-Pollack

    Cecilie Klein-Pollack

    Born 1925
    Korosmezo, Czechoslovakia

    Describes deportation from Huszt
    Oral History

  • Blanka Rothschild

    Blanka Rothschild

    Born 1922
    Lodz, Poland

    Describes deportations from the Lodz ghetto
    Oral History

  • Fritz Alexander Rosenberg

    Fritz Alexander Rosenberg

    Born February 18, 1881
    Goettingen, Germany

    ID Card

Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

  • "The entire sky of Warsaw was red. Completely red."

  • Leah Hammerstein Silverstein

    Leah Hammerstein Silverstein

    Born 1924
    Praga, Poland

    Describes bombings in Praga and Warsaw after the outbreak of World War II
    Oral History

  • Benjamin (Ben) Meed

    Benjamin (Ben) Meed

    Born Warsaw, Poland

    Describes Warsaw shortly after the German occupation in 1939, and his first experience of antisemitism
    Oral History

  • Abraham Lewent

    Abraham Lewent

    Born 1924
    Warsaw, Poland

    Describes food shortages after the invasion of Warsaw
    Oral History

  • Norbert I. Swislocki

    Norbert I. Swislocki

    Born 1936
    Warsaw, Poland

    Describes fleeing from Warsaw with his mother
    Oral History

  • Leah Hammerstein Silverstein

    Leah Hammerstein Silverstein

    Born 1924
    Praga, Poland

    Describes starvation in the Warsaw ghetto
    Oral History

  • Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed

    Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed

    Born 1921
    Warsaw, Poland

    Describes smuggling activities in the Warsaw ghetto
    Oral History

  • Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed

    Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed

    Born 1921
    Warsaw, Poland

    Describes her reaction to the burning of the Warsaw ghetto as she watched from a building outside the ghetto
    Oral History

  • Benjamin (Ben) Meed

    Benjamin (Ben) Meed

    Born Warsaw, Poland

    Describes the burning of the Warsaw ghetto during the 1943 ghetto uprising
    Oral History

  • Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed

    Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed

    Born 1921
    Warsaw, Poland

    Describes reactions after the Warsaw ghetto uprising
    Oral History

Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

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