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Personal Histories

survival

"Everybody had to have somebody and if you, if you didn't them you didn't survive, no matter how strong you were."

"And we knew the only way we can survive if we will stay in the front."

"And it was by the greatest miracle that I survived."

"She would protect me, she would cover me when we were marching, rain, snow, cold."

"'David, you must survive and let the world know what happened.'"

"But as I was already 14 years old, I needed a job on my own in order to be spared."

"Everybody had to have somebody and if you, if you didn't them you didn't survive, no matter how strong you were."
Agate (Agi) Rubin

Born 1930
Czechoslovakia

Describes the role of interpersonal bonds in surviving the Auschwitz camp
Oral History
Steven Springfield

Born 1923
Riga, Latvia

Describes 1945 death march from Stutthof camp system (Burggraben camp)
Oral History
Bart Stern

Born 1926
Hungary

Describes role of friendships in survival at Auschwitz
Oral History
Cecilie Klein-Pollack

Born 1925
Korosmezo, Czechoslovakia

Describes survival with sister in Auschwitz
Oral History
Blanka Rothschild

Born 1922
Lodz, Poland

Describes the role of sharing and friendship in surviving the conditions in the Lodz ghetto
Oral History

Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

"And it was by the greatest miracle that I survived."
Bart Stern

Born 1926
Hungary

Describes how he survived to be liberated in the Auschwitz camp
Oral History
Charlene Schiff

Born 1929
Horochow, Poland

Describes foraging for food in order to survive in forests after escaping from the Horochow ghetto
Oral History
Fritzie Weiss Fritzshall

Born 1929
Klucarky, Czechoslovakia

Describes receiving help from a prisoner in the "Kanada" detail upon arrival at Auschwitz
Oral History
Ruth Webber

Born 1935
Ostrowiec, Poland

Describes escaping from a selection held in the Auschwitz infirmary
Oral History
Sam Spiegel

Born 1922
Kozienice, Poland

Describes hiding in woods before being liberated
Oral History
Kate Bernath

Born 1927
Szikszo, Hungary

Describes psychology of survival in Auschwitz
Oral History

Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

"She would protect me, she would cover me when we were marching, rain, snow, cold."
Madeline Deutsch

Born 1930
Berehovo (Beregszasz), Czechoslovakia

Describes her mother's sacrifices to help Madeline survive
Oral History
Ruth Meyerowitz

Born 1929
Frankfurt, Germany

Describes surviving a selection for the gas chamber
Oral History
Cecilie Klein-Pollack

Born 1925
Korosmezo, Czechoslovakia

Describes mother's actions to save Cecilie's sister's life upon arrival at Auschwitz
Oral History
Ruth Webber

Born 1935
Ostrowiec, Poland

Describes her mother's efforts to ensure her children's survival
Oral History

Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

"But as I was already 14 years old, I needed a job on my own in order to be spared."
David (Dudi) Bergman

Born 1931
Velikiye-Bychkov, Czechoslovakia

Recalls importance of work for survival in the Plaszow labor camp
Oral History
Fritzie Weiss Fritzshall

Born 1929
Klucarky, Czechoslovakia

Describes selection process in Auschwitz
Oral History
Lucine Horn

Born 1926
Lublin, Poland

Describes conditions in the Lublin ghetto
Oral History
Thomas Buergenthal

Born 1934
Lubochna, Czechoslovakia

Describes reprieve, while he was in a forced-labor camp in Kielce, from a massacre of children
Oral History
Thomas Buergenthal

Born 1934
Lubochna, Czechoslovakia

Describes one of the forced-labor camps in Kielce, and his work there
Oral History
Irene Weber

Born 1928
Sosnowiec, Poland

Describes how obtaining a work card could offer protection from deportation
Oral History
Mayer Adler

Born 1929
Brezova nad Bradlom, Czechoslovakia

Describes surviving as a child in Auschwitz
Oral History
Dora Eiger

Born January 24, 1924
Radom, Poland

ID Card

Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC