Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Holocaust Survivor Testimonies (coll. 301), Mejer Lencow Testimony (301/805). Original in Polish.
Testimony of Meier Lenc, who lived in the Sokal Ghetto until its liquidation and then escaped to the “Aryan side”. He was captured by German police and later ran away from the grave he had been forced to dig for himself. He spent several months in…
Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Holocaust Survivor Testimonies (coll. 301), Leon Perelsztejn Testimony (301/106). Original in Polish.
Testimony of Leon Perelsztejn, who after his arrest in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski was sent to the Treblinka extermination camp, where he was assigned to work at the tool house. He describes the crematoria and methods of burning corpses as well as his…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 633. Original in French. Translated for the Wiener Library by Sue Boswell.
Testimony of an anonymous Jewish refugee from Belgium. He was arrested on the street in Brussels in 1942 and interned in the Malines internment camp, before being taken by train to Russia, near Stalingrad. He was forced to work in a camp probably run…
Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, Holocaust Survivor Testimonies (coll. 301), Abraham Peller Testimony (301/1649). Original in Polish.
Testimony of Abraham Peller regarding the fate of the Jews of Biecz under the German occupation, describing executions and liquidation of the ghetto in August 1942. In February 1942, the author survived an execution in which his family perished and…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 158. Original in German.
Testimony of Renate Lasker-Allais, who was deported to Auschwitz in December 1943 after one and a half years in prison. She was arrested for helping French POWs escape. She describes in detail life and death in Auschwitz. Lasker-Allais had knowledge…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 458. Original in German.
Testimony of Ursula Finke, who describes the increasing discrimination after 1933 and the blackmailing of her father. She finished school early and learned dressmaking. Finke was assigned to forced labor in a coat factory and moved to a “Jewish…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 540. Original in German
Testimony of Julia (Maria) Abraham-Stern, a trained seamstress. Her husband and son were deported, while she and her daughter were sent to the Lwów Ghetto with her parents. Her mother committed suicide to allow her to go into hiding with her daughter…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 771. Original in German.
Account of Magda Szanto on the rapid decree of antisemitic regulations in Budapest and how they affected daily life, for example shopping and robbery by German soldiers and ethnic Germans. She describes the difficulties of communicating with her…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Eyewitness testimony Collection (coll. 1656), 413. Original in German and English (summary page).
Testimony of Emil Carlebach, a communist activist from a prominent rabbinical family. He was instrumental in the resistance in Buchenwald. Carlebach describes corruption amongst the guards, how political prisoners gained a certain control over the…
The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, Persecution of Jews in Poland: reports and statements (coll. 532), 171. Original in Yiddish.
Testimony of Suwałki resident and homeowner Pese R. on the transfer of power from the Soviets to the Germans, the subsequent German occupation of Suwałki, and incipient persecution of Jews. She retells her flight from Suwałki with her children being…
