Guilt
My dad was a survivor of both Auschwitz and Buchenwald. After liberation, as he traveled home to Mukačevo, he left a message in every city along the way for anyone in the family who had survived.
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Read reflections and testimonies written by Holocaust survivors in their own words.
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A Timely Thought
The world would be a much better place if love were the driving force of our existence
A Wonderful Ancient Memory
A friend was driving in Slovakia recently and noticed the Tatry Mountains in the distance. She remembered that I had talked about being there, and so she sent me a picture. The picture immediately reminded me of great old times.
Lessons Lost
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.
Next Stop
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.
My First Week in the United States
My father and I left the SS Washington, the ship we traveled on from Le Havre, France, to New York City to start our new life in the New World. We said goodbye to Lady Liberty and proceeded off the ship. It was the first day of Passover, 1948.
Mukačevo: My Hometown
I imagine that my grandchildren’s generation, and certainly that of my great-grandchildren, will not be able to picture a life without even the simplest of the luxuries we have now. I am certain that when people I meet hear that I was raised in Mukačevo, they imagine it to be a shtetl, with little huts or little houses, without running water or electricity, and with mud-filled streets, with people pushing carts or horses pulling small or large carriages. Mukačevo doesn’t look like this now, nor did it look like this in the 1930s.
What I Am Best At
I know that I am very good at many, many things. I am a good wife, mother, friend, worker, and was very good at sports, mostly tennis. But …
My Nonexistent Secret Places
There is no place in this world that I find myself where I would not be reminded of the dear, wonderful people who filled my near and distant life with so much love and so many good things.
Reunited
I was asked to speak in the Hall of Remembrance at the Museum’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. After all these years of never wanting to speak in a large public setting, I was hesitant. Yet, one day as I was driving, I suddenly saw myself speaking at a lectern and knew that I had decided to say yes to the request.
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Survivor Reflections and Testimonies
Listen to or read Holocaust survivors’ experiences, told in their own words through oral histories, written testimony, and public programs.