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United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
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Personal Histories

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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

    Agate (Agi) Rubin

    Born 1930
    Czechoslovakia

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

  • Steven Springfield

    Steven Springfield

    Born 1923
    Riga, Latvia

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

  • Bart Stern

    Bart Stern

    Born 1926
    Hungary

    Describes role of friendships in survival at Auschwitz
    Oral History

  • Cecilie Klein-Pollack

    Cecilie Klein-Pollack

    Born 1925
    Korosmezo, Czechoslovakia

    Describes survival with sister in Auschwitz
    Oral History

  • Blanka Rothschild

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

  • Lily Mazur Margules

    Lily Mazur Margules

    Born 1924
    Vilna

    Describes death march from a labor camp near Stutthof
    Oral History

  • Thomas Buergenthal

    Thomas Buergenthal

    Born May 11, 1934
    Lubochna, Czechoslovakia

    ID Card

Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC

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

  • Bart Stern

    Bart Stern

    Born 1926
    Hungary

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

  • Charlene Schiff

    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

    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

    Ruth Webber

    Born 1935
    Ostrowiec, Poland

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

  • Sam Spiegel

    Sam Spiegel

    Born 1922
    Kozienice, Poland

    Describes hiding in woods before being liberated
    Oral History

  • Kate Bernath

    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

    Madeline Deutsch

    Born 1930
    Berehovo (Beregszasz), Czechoslovakia

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

  • Ruth Meyerowitz

    Ruth Meyerowitz

    Born 1929
    Frankfurt, Germany

    Describes surviving a selection for the gas chamber
    Oral History

  • Cecilie Klein-Pollack

    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

    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

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

  • David (Dudi) Bergman

    David (Dudi) Bergman

    Born 1931
    Velikiye-Bychkov, Czechoslovakia

    Describes rescue by inmates before he could be taken to the Dachau crematorium
    Oral History

  • Ruth Webber

    Ruth Webber

    Born 1935
    Ostrowiec, Poland

    Describes the Auschwitz crematoria
    Oral History

  • Tomasz (Toivi) Blatt

    Tomasz (Toivi) Blatt

    Born 1927
    Izbica, Poland

    Describes Sobibor uprising
    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

    David (Dudi) Bergman

    Born 1931
    Velikiye-Bychkov, Czechoslovakia

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

  • Fritzie Weiss Fritzshall

    Fritzie Weiss Fritzshall

    Born 1929
    Klucarky, Czechoslovakia

    Describes selection process in Auschwitz
    Oral History

  • Lucine Horn

    Lucine Horn

    Born 1926
    Lublin, Poland

    Describes conditions in the Lublin ghetto
    Oral History

  • Thomas Buergenthal

    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

    Thomas Buergenthal

    Born 1934
    Lubochna, Czechoslovakia

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

  • Irene Weber

    Irene Weber

    Born 1928
    Sosnowiec, Poland

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

  • Mayer Adler

    Mayer Adler

    Born 1929
    Brezova nad Bradlom, Czechoslovakia

    Describes surviving as a child in Auschwitz
    Oral History

  • Dora Eiger

    Dora Eiger

    Born January 24, 1924
    Radom, Poland

    ID Card

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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