First Person Podcast

Episodes

1. 47

   Holocaust Survivors’ Reflections and Hopes for the Future

   In today's episode, Holocaust survivors share their thoughts on the importance of speaking about their experiences. It is our tradition at First Person that each guest speaker ends the program with their "final words." In our final podcast of the series, we close with those thoughts, reflections,...

   Sep 29, 2010
2. 46

   Theodora Klayman: Shelter in Ludbreg

   Theodora (Dora) Klayman discusses surviving the war in hiding with her brother in Ludbreg, Yugoslavia. After her parents were deported in 1941, she spent the war first with her maternal aunt and then, after her aunt was denounced and deported, with non-Jewish neighbors.

   Jul 13, 2010
3. 45

   Haim Solomon: Hiding during the Pogrom in Iasi

   Haim Solomon discusses hiding during the pogrom that Romanian authorities staged against the Jewish population in Iasi, Romania, within days of the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Haim and his family hid in various different locations across the city. At least 4,000 Jews were...

   Aug 19, 2009
4. 44

   Margit Meissner: Flight from Paris on a Bicycle

   Margit Meissner discusses her flight from Paris just before the city fell to the Germans in June 1940. Margit and her mother were Austrian citizens living in Paris, which meant they were considered “enemy aliens” because Austria was annexed by Germany in 1938. They were ultimately separated and...

   Aug 12, 2009
5. 43

   Gerald Schwab: A German Jewish Refugee Returns as an American Soldier

   Gerald Schwab discusses his experience being drafted into the US Army in 1944 after fleeing Nazi Germany just four years earlier. After the war, he assisted with the trials of leading German officials before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.

   Aug 5, 2009
6. 42

   Emanuel (Manny) Mandel: Wearing the Yellow Star as a Child in Hungary

   Manny Mandel discusses wearing a yellow star as a young boy in Budapest. Hungary fell increasingly under the influence of Germany in the 1930s and joined the Axis alliance in 1940. During this time, Jews in Hungary were increasingly subjected to discriminatory anti-Jewish laws modeled on those in...

   Jul 22, 2009
7. 41

   Frank Liebermann: Changes in Germany After Nazi Rise to Power

   Frank Liebermann discusses life in Germany after the Nazis came to power in 1933. Shortly after taking power, the Nazis began to eliminate individual rights and freedoms for Jews in Germany. This changed daily life for Frank and his family in many ways. Frank's father was a physician and it…

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   Jul 14, 2009
8. 40

   Regina Spiegel: Separation at Auschwitz

   Regina Spiegel discusses her deportation from the ghetto in Pionki, Poland, and her arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi killing center. She and her boyfriend, Sam, were deported together in 1944 but were separated upon arrival at Auschwitz.

   Jul 8, 2009
9. 39

   Julius Menn: Flight from Invading German Troops

   Julius Menn discusses his family's flight eastward from advancing German troops invading Poland in September 1939. Julius's family escaped from Bialystok, Poland, to Vilna, Lithuania, eventually making their way through the Soviet Union to Palestine, where they had previously lived.

   Jul 1, 2009
10. 38

    Fritz Gluckstein: Berlin in the Aftermath of World War II

    Fritz Gluckstein discusses life immediately after World War II in Berlin and his eventual immigration to the United States. Born to a Jewish father and Christian mother, he was classified under Nazi law as Mischlinge, of mixed ancestry, or part Jewish. He spent the war in Berlin assigned to…

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    Jun 24, 2009
11. 37

    Helen Luksenburg: Forming a Friendship in Gleiwitz

    Helen Luksenburg discusses forming a close friendship with Welek, now William Luksenburg, a fellow prisoner in Gleiwitz, a subcamp of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

    Jun 23, 2009
12. 36

    David Bayer: Life After the German Invasion of Poland

    David Bayer discusses life in his hometown of Kozienice after the German invasion of Poland in September, 1939. Shortly after the invasion David and his family were harassed, humiliated, and subjected to acts of violence by the German occupiers and their collaborators.

    Jun 16, 2009
13. 35

    Morris Rosen: Forced Evacuation

    Morris Rosen discusses his evacuation and forced march on foot in February 1945 from a subcamp of the Gross Rosen concentration camp in Poland to the Theresienstadt camp in Czechoslovakia. In an effort to cover up their crimes and prevent prisoners from falling into enemy hands, Nazi officials...

    Jun 3, 2009
14. 34

    Manya Friedman: Death March to Ravensbrück

    Manya Friedman discusses her evacuation from Gleiwitz, a subcamp of Auschwitz, to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in January 1945. In an effort to cover up their crimes and prevent prisoners from falling into enemy hands, the Nazis evacuated prisoners in what became known as death marches.

    May 27, 2009
15. 33

    Gerald Liebenau: Memories of Kristallnacht

    In today’s episode Gerald Liebenau discusses his memories of Kristallnacht, also known as the “Night of Broken Glass.” On November 9-10, 1938, a wave of violent anti-Jewish pogroms erupted around Germany, leaving Jewish owned businesses and synagogues plundered and destroyed.

    May 26, 2009
16. 32

    Inge Katzenstein: Refuge In Kenya

    Inge Katzenstein discusses fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939 and finding refuge along with her family in Kenya, where they remained during the war.

    May 6, 2009
17. 31

    Martin Weiss: Selection at Auschwitz

    Martin Weiss discusses his deportation in May 1944 from the ghetto in Munkacs, then part of Hungary, and his arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi killing center.

    May 5, 2009
18. 30

    Leon Merrick: Evacuation and Arrival at Buchenwald

    In December 1944, as the Soviet army approached the slave labor camp in Poland where Leon Merrick was imprisoned, the Germans evacuated him to the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. Leon shares his recollections of the evacuation and his first day in Buchenwald.

    Apr 29, 2009
19. 29

    Marcel Drimer: Escaping the “Concert of Death”

    Marcel Drimer, his sister, and mother hid in a wheat field while a German aktion—a violent operation against Jewish civilians— occurred in their town of Drohobycz, Poland, in August 1942.

    Apr 15, 2009
20. 28

    Erika Eckstut: A Young Girl’s Experience in the Ghetto

    Erika Eckstut discusses the difficulties and dangers of life in the Czernowitz ghetto in what was then Romania (and today is western Ukraine). Erika was an adventurous teenager and her father went to great lengths to protect her and maintain her education.

    Mar 4, 2009
21. 27

    Leon Merrick: Importance of Work in the Lodz Ghetto

    Leon Merrick's job delivering mail in the Lodz ghetto became all the more difficult over time as Nazi deportations to the extermination camps increased and he was often given the task of delivering notices for deportation.

    Jul 1, 2008
22. 26

    Helen Goldkind: Arrival at Auschwitz

    Helen Goldkind discusses her deportation and arrival at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi killing center.

    Jun 17, 2008
23. 25

    Helen Luksenburg: Survival in the Camps

    Helen Luksenburg discusses daily life, spiritual resistance, and forced labor in Gleiwitz, a subcamp of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

    Jun 3, 2008
24. 24

    Martin Weiss: Reflections on Liberation

    Martin Weiss discusses his liberation from Gunskirchen, a subcamp of Mauthausen, in 1945 and the days immediately following.

    May 7, 2008
25. 23

    Fanny Aizenberg: A Mother’s Agonizing Decision

    Fanny Aizenberg discusses life for Belgian Jews after the German invasion in May 1940. Fanny’s husband heeded the call of the Royal Air Force asking for Belgian volunteers while Fanny took care of their young daughter in Belgium.

    Mar 19, 2008
26. 22

    Halina Peabody: Hiding in Plain Sight

    Halina Peabody discusses her mother’s decision to go into hiding as a family following the German invasion of Poland in 1939. Halina spent the war in Poland living under false papers identifying her as a Catholic.

    Mar 12, 2008