Longings
I am standing now at the railroad station of the small village where I reside with a Polish family.
Read reflections and testimonies written by Holocaust survivors in their own words.
I am standing now at the railroad station of the small village where I reside with a Polish family.
Who is watching over me in this silence that I feel?
To endless days On lonely avenues.
It was April 1945, and we were slated to move into Kassel, Germany, to secure our building and personality targets as the US Army Infantry was occupying the city. But before we could enter, there came a change of orders.
Remembering my childhood, specifically my second grade class in Germany, each student was allocated a small lot and instructed to plant vegetables—lettuce, radishes, beans, and tomatoes. I thought, now, why can’t I do that on my otherwise useless lot?
We were now together in New York and had escaped from Germany, but our problems were not over.
On a Friday afternoon in September, I started coughing. I thought it was no big deal.
As soon as the Nazis came, schools were closed and we had to wear yellow stars on our outside garments. We feared what was coming next.
In 1948, my father, sister, and I were sponsored by my family living in New York City and obtained visas to immigrate to the United States.
How I tried to reach out to the outside world but couldn’t make it, as depicted by a dream I had in 1964.
Listen to or read Holocaust survivors’ experiences, told in their own words through oral histories, written testimony, and public programs.