Title: Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust Interviews and Photographs
Inclusive Dates: circa 1939-circa 1945, 1974-1975, 1980-1981

Creators:

• Alpert, Pela, 1920-2005, interviewee
• Applegate, William H., 1920-1985, interviewee
• Bader, Flora, 1919-1997, interviewee
• Baras, Lucy, 1913-2002, interviewee
• Blasberg, Sylvia, 1925-2012, interviewee
• Chulew, Manny, 1924-, interviewee
• Comins, Chana, 1918-2003, interviewee
• DeLevie, Herb, 1934-1989, interviewee
• Deutschkron, Eva, 1918-2011, interviewee
• Epstein, Karola Frankenthal, 1925-2015, interviewee
• Golde, Henry, 1929-2019, interviewee
• Goldfarb, Susanne, 1933-1987, interviewee
• Gordon, Harry, 1925-2010, interviewee
• Herzberger, Magda, 1926-2021, interviewee
• Katz, Rosa Goldberg, 1924-2013, interviewee
• Koplin, Louis David, 1920-2020, interviewee
• Moshe, Salvator, 1915-1993, interviewee
• Peltz, Walter, 1919-2003, interviewee
• Platner, Fred, 1917-1988, interviewee
• Relles, Mayer, 1908-1995, interviewee
• Sorrin, Saul, 1919-1995, interviewee
• Stundel, Cyla, 1921-2009, interviewee
• Swarsensky, Manfred, 1906-1981, interviewee
• Wolnerman, Israel, 1922-, interviewee

Call Number: Audio 530A; Audio 784A; Audio 785A; Audio 788A; Audio 794A-797A; Audio 801A-804A; Audio 838A; Audio 848A; Audio 849A; Audio 862A; Audio 866A; Audio 869A-872A; Audio 874A-877A; Mss 605; PH 3187

Quantity: 164 tape recordings, 1.6 cubic feet of papers (4 archives boxes), 60 copy photographs, 68 contact sheets, 163 transparencies, 239 photocopies (1 archives box), 1407 images (403 negative strips), and 2 copy negatives (1 archives box)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTIONS MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry for additional information.

Abstract:

Audio recorded interviews by Society staff members with Jewish survivors of the Holocaust (Shoah) in Europe (1933-1945) who eventually settled in Wisconsin. The interviews discuss their pre-war circumstances, war-time experiences, post-war resettlement, and subsequent events in their lives. These experiences include deportation to labor and concentration camps, hiding “underground” in Holland and Germany, internment in Italy, slave-labor in Russia, escape to Shanghai, China, and other war-time events. Discussion of their post-war experiences concerns years in displaced persons camps, internment on Cyprus, temporary residences in Sweden, England, and Israel, and resettlement in the United States. Also included are two interviews with United States citizens who worked with displaced persons after the war. The photographs document the families of the survivors before and immediately after World War II. Also included are color transparencies of the survivors photographed by Historical Society staff, from December 1979 through February 1981, as well as copies of photographs supplied by the survivors.

Note:

There is a restriction on use of this material; see the Administrative/Restriction Information portion of this finding aid for details.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00605

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Oral Histories: Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust are available online through Aviary. Biographical information, photograph(s) of the interviewee, and transcripts of the oral history, are also usually included.

The abstracts are also available on microfiche which is included in the published guide.

Collection of Wisconsin Jewish Archives Oral History Interviews, 1955-1981.

Use Restrictions

Copyright to the audio, transcripts to the interviews, and photographs of Magda Herzberger belongs to the narrator's heirs. The Wisconsin Historical Society shares them online strictly for non-profit educational purposes. Any document may be printed or downloaded to a computer or portable device at no cost for nonprofit educational use by teachers, students and researchers. Nothing may be reproduced in any format for commercial purposes without prior permission. If you have questions related to the copyright status of material included here, please see Archives Reference staff.

Acquisition Information

Accession Number: M74-041; M80-008, -039, -047, -055, -066-069, -077, -079, -081, -087, -096, -101-103, -105-106, -116, -295-296, -342, -343, -351, -354, -356-372, -379, -465, 466, -470, -483, -497, -537, -549, -556, -558, -563, -575-577, -580; and M81-033-034, -063-064; M2002-095

Processing Information

Processed by Karen Baumann, 1983; Donna Sereda, 2002; and David Benjamin, 2009.

	Series: Interviews
530A/1-3 and 801A/1-2	Alpert, Pela, 1974 January 30, 1975 June 5, and 1980 March 5 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
803A/1-2	Applegate, William, 1980 March 11 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online. Note: Applegate was the only liberator interviewed for the Oral Histories: Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust project.
Mss 605 Box   1 Folder   1	Transcription
876A/1-9	Bader, Flora, 1980 November 17-18 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   1 Folder   2	Transcription
	Baras, Lucy, 1980 November 12-13
	Audio Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
870A/1	Life as a child in Poland, Jewish traditions at home, her education in Poland, community life, and anti-Semitism
870A/2	Loyalty to Jewish traditions, beginnings of war, Russian occupation, problems of living under Russian occupation, life under Germans, and establishment of the ghetto
870A/3	Beginnings of the ghetto, preparations for disaster, hiding from Germans as they took Jews from the ghetto, working as a seamstress for a German family, and hiding her mother from Germans
870A/4	Hiding in the forest, losing mother, survival in the forest, feelings about God in relation to the Holocaust, night of liberation, return to Skalat, and getting married
870A/5	Departure from Skalat, going west, life in a refugee camp, coming to America, and life in New York
870A/6	Unidentified
870A/7	Living in America, children, fellow Jews, and writing
870A/8	Current political situations, rise of the KKK and Nazi organizations, economic conditions, anti-Semitism in the United States, and the political situation in Germany today
Mss 605 Box   1 Folder   3	Transcription
877A/1-10	Blasberg, Sylvia, 1980 November 3, 1981 January 22, February 2 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   1 Folder   4	Transcription
871A/1-4	Chulew, Manny, 1980 October 8-9 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
784A/1-3	Comins, Chana, 1980 January 28 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   1 Folder   5	Transcription
804A/1-6	DeLevie, Herb, 1980 March 11, 13, 20 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   1 Folder   6	Transcription
862A/1-7	Deutschkron, Eva, 1980 September 3, 5 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   1 Folder   7	Transcription
869A/1-5	Epstein, Karola, 1980 October 6, 9 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   1 Folder   8	Transcription
866A/1-7	Golde, Henry, 1980 October 1-2 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   2 Folder   1	Transcription
785A/1-5	Goldfarb, Susanne, 1980 February 7, October 8 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   2 Folder   2	Transcription
849A/1-6	Gordon, Harry, 1980 August 24, October 27, November 19 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   2 Folder   3	Transcription
	Herzberger, Magda, 1980 July 21-22, August 27 Use Restrictions: Copyright belongs to the heirs of Magda Herzberger, see Archives Reference staff.
	Audio Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online. Note: Magda's mother is present during the interview and sometimes comments.
848A/1	Childhood in Transylvania, her family before the war and the shattering effects of war on her family, childhood activities and family traditions, invasion of Poland, Romanian rule of Transylvania, and poverty of the war years
848A/2	Religious practices in Transylvania, childhood experiences, pre-war knowledge of Nazi activities
848A/3	German invasion of Rumania, her arrest and internment in a ghetto, transport in a cattle car, entrance into the concentration camp, life in the camp
848A/4	In-depth details about the concentration camp, daily routines, closeness with the other female prisoners Note: She reads the eulogy written to her father, a passage to her daughter, and other poetic pieces she wrote about the camp.
848A/5	Continues to discuss life in the concentration camp, tactics for survival, fight against insanity, attempts to escape, departure from Auschwitz to Brehman, bombings at Brehman Note: She recites a piece of her writing at Brehman.
848A/6	Continues to discuss life in Brehman: Typhus epidemic and her escape to avoid contracting it, arrival of the British, Liberation Day, and the survivors; she reads two of her poems – “Anguish, Liberation;” return to her home and finds her mother, goes to medical school, marries, exodus to Israel
848A/7	Courtship of her husband, attempt and success at entering medical school, early years of marriage and medical school, political situation in Rumania during the 1940s, first pregnancy Note: She reads several of her poems and begins describing their move to Israel.
848A/8	Life in Israel, motherhood, her husband's medical career (she ends her career to be a mother), Palestinian bombing of Tel Aviv and the family's subsequent departure to the U.S., move to Georgia for about a year, move to Monroe, Wisconsin in 1960, life in Monroe
848A/9	Magda's life presently and the effect of her past on it, response from her book, response from American Jews about her Holocaust experience, her public speaking career, occupation as wife and mother
848A/10	Her impressions of Wisconsin, life in Monroe as the only Jew, contrast with life in Dubuque, Iowa, her contribution to the Monroe community, political ideas including positions on Israel, anti-Semitism in the U.S.
Mss 605 Box   2 Folder   4-5	Transcription
	Katz, Rosa, 1980 October 28-29 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
875A/1	Tradition and culture of family in Poland, in-depth description of family members, life in Poland before the war
875A/2	Going into the ghetto, going to Warsaw to escape going to the ghetto, description of the ghetto, being shipped to Auschwitz
875A/3	Living in the ghetto, speaking about the underground, life in prison camps and how bad everything was
875A/4	Leaving Auschwitz to Berlin, in quarantine, working in ammunition factory, life in barracks, being liberated, going to Denmark
875A/5	Events after liberation, contact with relatives, meeting her husband, husband's life during the war, coming to America, life in America
875A/6	Her children; dealing with Holocaust experience in relationship with children; daily life; thoughts about Wisconsin; answers to general questions; feelings about Germany, Poland, and Israel; feelings about participating in the oral history project
794A/1-6	Koplin, Louis, 1980 February 13, 19 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   2 Folder   6	Transcription
874A/1-6	Moshe, Salvator, 1980 November 18, 1981 January 22, February 2 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
796A/1-10	Peltz, Walter, 1980 February 26-27, March 10 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   3 Folder   1	Transcription
872A/1-11	Platner, Fred, 1980 October 1-2, 22 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   3 Folder   2	Transcription
838A/1-10	Relles, Meyer, Rabbi, 1980 October 12-13, 25 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   3 Folder   3	Transcription
788A/1-6	Sorrin, Saul, 1980 February 13, 19 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   3 Folder   4	Transcription
795A/1-5	Stundel, Cyla, 1980 February 20, March 9 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
797A/1-12	Swarsensky, Manfred, Rabbi, 1980 Spring, Summer Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605 Box   3 Folder   5	Transcription
802A/1-9	Wolnerman, Israel, 1980 March 9, 16, August 11, November 18 Alternate Format: Interview and transcript also available online.
Mss 605	Series: Abstracts	⇧
Box   4 Folder   1-24	A-Z
PH 3187	Series: Visual Materials	⇧
	Photographs and transparencies
Box   1 Folder   1	Albert, Pela
Box   1 Folder   2	Bader, Flora
Box   1 Folder   3	Baras, Lucy
Box   1 Folder   4	Chulew, Manny
Box   1 Folder   5	Chana, Comins
Box   1 Folder   6	Daniels, Irmgaard Moser
Box   1 Folder   7	DeLevie, Herb
Box   1 Folder   8	Deutschkron, Eva
Box   1 Folder   9	Epstein, Karola
Box   1 Folder   10	Golde, Henry
Box   1 Folder   11	Goldfarb, Susanne
Box   1 Folder   12	Herzberger, Magda Use Restrictions: Copyright belongs to the heirs of Magda Herzberger, see Archives Reference staff.
Box   1 Folder   13	Katz, Rosa
Box   1 Folder   14	Koplin, Louis
Box   1 Folder   15	Moshe, Salvator
Box   1 Folder   16	Peltz, Walter
Box   1 Folder   17	Platner, Fred
Box   1 Folder   18	Porter, Faye Merin
Box   1 Folder   19	Relles, Meyer, Rabbi
Box   1 Folder   20	Sorrin, Saul
Box   1 Folder   21	Stundel, Cyla
Box   1 Folder   22	Swarsensky, Manfred, Rabbi
Box   1 Folder   23	Wolnerman, Israel
Box   1 Folder   24	Book cover collages
	Negatives
Box   2 Folder   1	Albert, Pela
Box   2 Folder   2	Bader, Flora
Box   2 Folder   3	Baras, Lucy
Box   2 Folder   4	Chulew, Manny
Box   2 Folder   5	Chana, Comins
Box   2 Folder   6	Daniels, Irmgaard Moser
Box   2 Folder   7	Deutschkron, Eva
Box   2 Folder   8	Epstein, Karola
Box   2 Folder   9	Golde, Henry
Box   2 Folder   10	Goldfarb, Susanne
Box   2 Folder   11	Herzberger, Magda Use Restrictions: Copyright belongs to the heirs of Magda Herzberger, see Archives Reference staff.
Box   2 Folder   12	Katz, Rosa
Box   2 Folder   13	Koplin, Louis
Box   2 Folder   14	Moshe, Salvator
Box   2 Folder   15	Peltz, Walter
Box   2 Folder   16	Platner, Fred
Box   2 Folder   17	Porter, Faye Merin
Box   2 Folder   18	Relles, Meyer, Rabbi
Box   2 Folder   19	Sorrin, Saul
Box   2 Folder   20	Stundel, Cyla
Box   2 Folder   21	Swarsensky, Manfred, Rabbi
Box   2 Folder   22	Wolnerman, Israel
Box   2 Folder   23	Book cover collages