All Stories: 590
Stories
Displaced Once Again
"[At the] end of 1947 we were transferred to a camp called Beth Israel outside of town called Hallein, which is about fifty miles east of Salzburg. And in this particular camp, there were actual rooms.
It had a door. It had a…
Atrocities in the Ukraine
"My mother's family, her brothers, and her parents were taken to outside of Kiev at Babi Yar-- where they were made to dig their own graves. And were lined up and shot in the back of the head.
Both of her sisters survived the Holocaust…
Living in the Priest's Grotto Caves
"[The German invasion] forced most of the young Jews into hiding, into groups of resistance fighters living in the caves. Living in the forest. Coming out at night trying to get food. Or do whatever damage they could to the Germans. The…
Father's Hometown of Lublin
"My father was born in Lublin, Poland. 1919. He was a student. My father was the youngest of sixteen children. Fifteen of those children were girls. He basically was just a typical teenager -- growing up with a fairly Orthodox Jewish…
Mother's Hometown of Kremenchug
"I was born April 24, 1941. In a small town called Kremenchug. About fifty miles east of Kiev in the Ukraine.
My mother was born in Kremenchug, Russia in the Ukraine. 1916. She was one of six children. She had two sisters and three…
Life in a Displaced Persons Camp
"We arrived -- outside of a DP camp, a displaced persons camp, outside of Salzburg, Austria. This was late 1945 or early 1946. I believe it was either December or January because I remember very, very strongly how cold [it was] and the snow as…
Transferring through Union Station
"That night we were taken off the train in Washington, in Union Station. Very, very late, late at night. This was the day before Thanksgiving of 1950.
The five of us. My mom holding Ethel, and my dad holding my hand, and my, my sister…
Arriving in Atlanta
"About three or four o’clock in the afternoon we came into Atlanta Terminal Station in downtown. And we sat there on the train. The train stopped. I guess if the train had a different destination than Atlanta, we would have gone on. We didn’t…
Buttermilk Bottom Neighborhood
"Buttermilk Bottom was a, a ghetto area. So, totally, you know, a black area. Dilapidated buildings. I remember one day--my dad was telling me that this young kid came into the store and tried to steal some food. My dad stopped him and asked…
Internment
"Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to…