Personal Histories
individuals
Selma Engel: "We went three days and three nights to Sobibor."
Abraham Lewent: "Everyday you walked out in the morning, you see somebody is laying dead, covered with newspapers or with any kind of blanket they found."
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Abraham Lewent
Born July 27, 1924
Warsaw, Poland -
Abraham Lewent
Born 1924
Warsaw, PolandDescribes food shortages after the invasion of Warsaw
Oral History -
Abraham Lewent
Born 1924
Warsaw, PolandDescribes performing forced labor in Warsaw and increased Polish antisemitism
Oral History -
Abraham Lewent
Born 1924
Warsaw, PolandDescribes conditions in the Warsaw ghetto
Oral History -
Abraham Lewent
Born 1924
Warsaw, PolandDescribes conditions in the Warsaw ghetto
Oral History -
Abraham Lewent
Born 1924
Warsaw, PolandDescribes hiding during the raid in which his mother and sisters were seized for deportation from Warsaw to Treblinka
Oral History -
Abraham Lewent
Born 1924
Warsaw, PolandDescribes deportation to and conditions in Majdanek
Oral History -
Abraham Lewent
Born 1924
Warsaw, PolandDescribes father's death at Majdanek
Oral History -
Abraham Lewent
Born 1924
Warsaw, PolandDescribes conditions in Skarzysko camp
Oral History -
Abraham Lewent
Born 1924
Warsaw, PolandRecalls how, while ill with typhoid, he persuaded the Skarzysko doctor that he was fit to work
Oral History -
Abraham Lewent
Born 1924
Warsaw, PolandDescribes the moments following his liberation from a death march from the Dachau camp
Oral History
Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
Chaim Engel: "So I knew already what happened...that he went to the gas chamber with my friend and I am here separating his clothes."
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Chaim Engel
Born January 1916
Brudzew, Poland -
Chaim Engel
Born 1916
Brudzew, PolandDescribes arrival in Sobibor
Oral History -
Chaim Engel
Born 1916
Brudzew, PolandDescribes sorting clothing of Belzec prisoners killed in Sobibor
Oral History -
Chaim Engel
Born 1916
Brudzew, PolandDescribes plans for the Sobibor uprising. Chaim refers to [Gustav] Wagner, Sobibor's deputy commandant
Oral History -
Chaim Engel
Born 1916
Brudzew, PolandRecalls the Sobibor uprising and his escape
Oral History -
Chaim Engel
Born 1916
Brudzew, PolandDescribes his role in the Sobibor uprising
Oral History
Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
Charlene Schiff: "In 1941, in the summer, all of a sudden we heard bombs and the airplanes flying overhead."
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Shulamit Perlmutter (Charlene Schiff)
Born December 16, 1929
Horochow, Poland -
Charlene Schiff
Born 1929
Horochow, PolandDescribes the German invasion of her town, Horochow, in the summer of 1941
Oral History -
Charlene Schiff
Born 1929
Horochow, PolandDescribes anti-Jewish decrees and anti-Jewish measures after the German invasion of Horochow
Oral History -
Charlene Schiff
Born 1929
Horochow, PolandDescribes conditions in the Horochow ghetto
Oral History -
Charlene Schiff
Born 1929
Horochow, PolandDescribes forced labor in the Horochow ghetto
Oral History -
Charlene Schiff
Born 1929
Horochow, PolandDescribes a clandestine school for children in the Horochow ghetto
Oral History -
Charlene Schiff
Born 1929
Horochow, PolandDescribes being caught while trying to smuggle food into the Horochow ghetto
Oral History -
Charlene Schiff
Born 1929
Horochow, PolandDescribes escaping from the Horochow ghetto
Oral History -
Charlene Schiff
Born 1929
Horochow, PolandDescribes foraging for food in order to survive in forests after escaping from the Horochow ghetto
Oral History -
Charlene Schiff
Born 1929
Horochow, PolandDescribes her liberation by Soviet troops
Oral History -
Charlene Schiff
Born 1929
Horochow, PolandDescribes difficulties in gaining entry to the United States in the aftermath of the Holocaust
Oral History
Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
Gerda Weissman Klein and Kurt Klein: "He held the door open for me and let me precede him and in that gesture restored me to humanity."
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Gerda Weissmann
Born May 8, 1924
Bielsko, Poland -
Gerda Weissmann Klein
Born 1924
Bielsko, PolandDescribes her birthday celebration in the Bielsko ghetto
Oral History -
Gerda Weissmann Klein
Born 1924
Bielsko, PolandDescribes the Bolkenhain subcamp of Gross-Rosen and a camp leader
Oral History -
Gerda Weissmann Klein
Born 1924
Bielsko, PolandDescribes liberation in Czechoslovakia by U.S. soldier
Oral History -
Kurt Klein
Born 1920
Waldorf, GermanyDescribes a group of death march survivors found in a Czechoslovak village
Oral History
Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
Selma Engel: "We went three days and three nights to Sobibor."
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Selma Wijnberg
Born May 15, 1922
Groningen, Netherlands -
Selma (Wijnberg) Engel
Born 1922
Groningen, the NetherlandsDescribes deportation to Sobibor
Oral History -
Selma (Wijnberg) Engel
Born 1922
Groningen, the NetherlandsDescribes forced labor in Sobibor--sorting clothing and possessions of those deported to Sobibor
Oral History
Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
Vladka Meed: "And I was with mine package on top of the wall, and the shooting got closer and I was sure that I, this time I am done."
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Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed
Born 1921
Warsaw, PolandDescribes participating in activities of the Bundist underground
Oral History -
Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed
Born 1921
Warsaw, PolandDescribes clandestine cultural activities in the Warsaw ghetto
Oral History -
Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed
Born 1921
Warsaw, PolandDescribes smuggling activities in the Warsaw ghetto
Oral History -
Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed
Born 1921
Warsaw, PolandDescribes the deportation of her mother and brother from the Warsaw ghetto to Treblinka
Oral History -
Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed
Born 1921
Warsaw, PolandDescribes smuggling a description of the Treblinka camp to underground leaders on the "Aryan" side of Warsaw
Oral History -
Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed
Born 1921
Warsaw, PolandDescribes waiting at a train station with false documents to be smuggled into the Warsaw ghetto
Oral History -
Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed
Born 1921
Warsaw, PolandDescribes her reaction to the burning of the Warsaw ghetto as she watched from a building outside the ghetto
Oral History -
Vladka (Fagele) Peltel Meed
Born 1921
Warsaw, PolandDescribes reactions after the Warsaw ghetto uprising
Oral History
Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
