Non-English testimony clips on Auschwitz
Régine JACUBERT
Régine Jacubert est née le 24 janvier 1920 à Zagorow (Pologne). La famille part pour la France en 1930 et s’installe à Nancy. Réfugiée à Bordeaux avec les siens en 1940, elle rentre seule à Nancy où elle travaille. Le reste de sa famille est arrêté et interné. A Nancy, elle échappe à la grande rafle du 19 juillet 1942 et passe clandestinement en zone Sud. A Lyon, où elle a trouvé un travail, elle entre dans le mouvement de résistance Combat, en janvier 1943. Arrêtée en juin 1944, elle est interrogée à la Gestapo, notamment par Klaus Barbie. Transférée à Drancy, elle est déportée à Auschwitz-Birkenau par le convoi du 31 juillet 1944. Au bout de trois mois, elle est évacuée au camp de Kratzau. Là, elle travaille dans une usine d’armement. Le camp est libéré par l’Armée rouge le 9 mai 1945 et elle rentre en France le 3 juin 1945. A la fin des années 1980, elle témoigne au procès de Klaus Barbie. Elle s’investit pleinement dans le travail de mémoire et la transmission de son expérience auprès des jeunes générations.
Nissin Soriano on the intake process at Auschwitz
Language: Spanish
Jewish survivor Nissin Soriano of Argentina recalls the intake procedures he experienced in Auschwitz. He describes the shaving, numbering, and disinfecting processes.
Ina Rabner on the selection process at Auschwitz
Language: Portuguese
Jewish survivor Ina Rabner of Brazil remembers the selection process she and the other women prisoners underwent upon their arrival to Auschwitz. She also recalls how, amidst the terrifying process, she saved her sister from execution, hiding her sibling’s graying hair from Mengele.
Yehudit Sadeh on recovering after her liberation from Auschwitz
Language: Hebrew
Shortly after the Germans fled Auschwitz, well-meaning Russian liberators provided food to children. Tragically, some would die from eating too quickly. Yehudit Sadeh was suffering from dysentery, which proved fortuitous because it prevented her from eating. She describes how a doctor took pains to nurse her back to health until she could walk again and catch a transport back to Czechoslovakia.
Shaul Hazan on being a Sonderkommando
Language: Hebrew
Shaul Hazan, who worked as a Sonderkommando at Auschwitz, describes what he witnessed at the crematoriums. He details not only the gruesome cleanup, but also the process the Nazis used to administer the gas.
Edgar Wildfeuer about forced labor in Auschwitz
Language: Spanish
Edgar Wildfeuer of Argentina speaks of his forced labor assignment in carpentry for the Deutsche Ausrüstungswerke (DAW) Corporation in Auschwitz.
Régine JACUBERT
Language: French
Régine Jacubert est née le 24 janvier 1920 à Zagorow (Pologne). La famille part pour la France en 1930 et s’installe à Nancy. Réfugiée à Bordeaux avec les siens en 1940, elle rentre seule à Nancy où elle travaille. Le reste de sa famille est arrêté et interné. A Nancy, elle échappe à la grande rafle du 19 juillet 1942 et passe clandestinement en zone Sud. A Lyon, où elle a trouvé un travail, elle entre dans le mouvement de résistance Combat, en janvier 1943. Arrêtée en juin 1944, elle est interrogée à la Gestapo, notamment par Klaus Barbie. Transférée à Drancy, elle est déportée à Auschwitz-Birkenau par le convoi du 31 juillet 1944. Au bout de trois mois, elle est évacuée au camp de Kratzau. Là, elle travaille dans une usine d’armement. Le camp est libéré par l’Armée rouge le 9 mai 1945 et elle rentre en France le 3 juin 1945. A la fin des années 1980, elle témoigne au procès de Klaus Barbie. Elle s’investit pleinement dans le travail de mémoire et la transmission de son expérience auprès des jeunes générations.
Karl Stojka on Auschwitz
Language: German
Karl Stojka was born to a Roma family on April 20, 1931 in Wampersdorf, Lower Austria. His parents Maria Stojka and Karl Horvath travelled as horse traders with their kids in a trailer. Karl had three sisters, Katharina, Margareta, Amalia, and two brothers, Johann and Josef.
In 1938, the Nazis forced the family Stojka to settle in Vienna. Like his older siblings, Karl went to school until his father was arrested in 1940. From this point on, the anti-Sinti and Roma measures persisted, and in 1943, Karl, his mother and his five siblings were arrested and deported to the Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination camp. They were housed in the barracks of the Zigeunerlager (German: "Gypsy camp")—part of Birkenau designated for Roma and Sinti prisoners. Karl was forced to work in the quarry and in the canteen, where he was able to steal food for himself and his family. In 1944, he and his brother Johann were transported to the Buchenwald concentration camp and later transferred to the Flossenbürg concentration camp. During the evacuation of Flossenbürg in April 1945, thousands of the camp inmates, including Karl and Johann, were forced to march towards Dachau. The two brothers were able to flee during the death march.
After his liberation on April 24, 1945 by American troops, Karl Stojka was living as an artist in the United States of America and in Austria. The interview was conducted in Vienna, Austria on April 15, 1998. The interviewer: Eva Ribarits, the cameraman: Oskar Goldberger.
Johann Stojka on Auschwitz
Language: German
Johann Stojka was born to a Roma family on March 20, 1929 in Vienna, Austria. He spent most of his childhood travelling in a trailer with his parents Maria Stojka, Karl Horvath and his five siblings, Katharina, Karl, Margareta, Amalia and Josef. His parents made a living by trading horses.
On Nazi command in 1938 the family settled in Vienna, where Johann went to school until his father was arrested in 1940. In 1943, Johann got arrested and transported to the Auschwitz IIBirkenau extermination camp, where he and his family were housed in the barracks of the Zigeunerlager (German: "Gypsy camp")—part of Birkenau designated for Roma and Sinti prisoners. Fourteen years of age, Johann was considered to be fit for work and therefore assigned to compulsory labor. In 1944, he and his brother were first transported to the Buchenwald concentration camp and subsequently transferred to the Flossenbürg concentration camp in 1945. In April of 1945, all inmates of Flossenbürg, including Johann and his brother Karl, were forced to depart the camp under stringent security. Johann and his brother were able to escape the death march and were rescued by American troops on April 24. Johann’s parents and sisters survived as well, his youngest brother died in Auschwitz IIBirkenau of a typhus infection. After liberation Johann Stojka returned to Vienna.
The interview was conducted in Vienna, Austria on April 22, 1998. The interviewer: Eva Ribarits, the cameraman: Oskar Goldberger.
Ana Benkel de Vinocur
Language: Spanish
Ana Benkel de Vinocur describe sus primeras impresiones del campo de concentración Auschwitz II-Birkenau a su llegada del gueto de Lódz en mayo de 1944. Ella recuerda su reacción cuando se abrieron las pesadas compuertas del tren de deportación y vio a los prisioneros vistiendo uniformes rayados, calvos, luciendo como esqueletos. Ella habla de la confiscación de todas sus pertenencias y del proceso de selección durante el cual se mantuvo con su madre, pero fue separada de su padre y hermano.
Biografía
Ana Benkel de Vinocur nació el 25 de septiembre de 1926 en Lódz, Polonia. Ana y su familia se mudaron al gueto de Lódz en 1940, donde vivieron bajo condiciones muy duras hasta que fueron deportados al campo de concentración Auschwitz II-Birkenau en 1944. Luego, fue transferida al campo de concentración Stutthoff en Danzig (FC), donde se mantuvo hasta su transferencia en barco por el Mar Báltico, con destino a Alemania. Fue liberada en Kiel, Alemania, a comienzos de mayo de 1945.
Zuzana Weiszova
Language: Czech
Auschwitz survivor Zuzana Weiszova describes how the fatigued Russian liberators entered the death camp and, after deciphering the Germans were gone, asked survivors if they had any vodka. The Russians cooked a modest feast and shared it with all.