Holocaust Testimonies
Unfortunately, the number of Holocaust survivors around the world is declining.
Many survivors who were young children during World War II, today are older people over 80 years old.
Some participate in various events, in which they share their stories and their family story, but this is a dwindling generation.
My grandparents passed away over 10 years ago. They both have a recorded or filmed testimony of the story of their hardships in the Holocaust, but during their lives have not told their story to an audience.
As part of my family research, I took as a project the preservation of their story and pass it to future generations.
My Grandfather Shmaryahu
Shmaryahu was born in Pabianice in 1922.
His family has lived in the town since the 1830s and engaged in textiles.
At the beginning of the war, the family was transferred to the ghetto set up by the Nazis in the town, but Shmaryahu was taken early to a labor camp in the Poznan area.
Shmaryahu was later transferred to the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, where he survived for about two years, before going on a "death march" to the Dora camp in Germany.
Shmaryahu's entire family perished in the Holocaust when the Nazis liquidated the Pabianice ghetto and sent most of the Jews to the Chelmno extermination camp.
After the war, Shmaryahu immigrated to Israel on board of the Exodus, but was deported back to Germany and immigrated to Israel in 1948.
My Grandmother Frida
Frida was born in Oswiecim (Auschwitz) in 1928.
Her family lived for many years in the Galicia area, and towards the end of the 19th century they moved to Oswiecim.
At the beginning of the war the family was transferred to the ghetto in Sosnowiec and two years later Frida was taken to the Graben labor camp.
Towards the end of the war she was transferred to the Bergen-Belsen camp, where she was liberated by the British army.
Frida's older sister was taken to a labor camp and the message of her death was carried to her family. The rest of the family was murdered in Auschwitz.
Frida immigrated to Israel on Passover 1947 with a legal certificate.