Start of Main Content

2022 First Person Series: Susan Warsinger

Conversations with Holocaust Survivors
Holocaust survivor Susan Warsinger on her first day of school (courtesy of Susan Warsinger) and as an adult, today. US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Holocaust survivor Susan Warsinger on her first day of school (courtesy of Susan Warsinger) and as an adult, today. US Holocaust Memorial Museum

When her neighbors smashed a brick through Susan’s bedroom window on the night of November 9, 1938, she was nine years old and terrified. After what is now known as Kristallnacht or the “Night of Broken Glass,” Susan’s life changed forever.

Her parents used their savings to smuggle Susan and her brother, Joseph, out of Germany to a children’s home in a Paris suburb. In June 1940, as the German military approached, Susan and Joseph fled again, and stayed with other refugees in the palace at Versailles, where they slept in the Hall of Mirrors on burlap sacks of straw.

Tune in to learn how Susan and Joseph endured two years of separation from their family until they reunited in the United States.

Speaker
Susan Warsinger, Holocaust Survivor and Museum Volunteer

Moderator
Bill Benson, Journalist and Host, First Person: Conversations with Holocaust Survivors

Watch live at youtube.com/ushmm. You do not need a YouTube account to view our program.

After the live broadcast, the recording will be available to watch on demand on the Museum's YouTube page.

First Person is a monthly hour-long discussion with a Holocaust survivor and is made possible through generous support from the Louis Franklin Smith Foundation, with additional funding from the Arlene and Daniel Fisher Foundation.