Eva describes the patterns of relationships among the inhabitants of the Hongkew ghetto in Shanghai, China and focuses on the friendships she and her family had formed while retaining their humanity under difficult circumstances.

Henry describes his flight from Berlin, Germany, to Shanghai, China, in summer 1940 and recalls the family members he left behind.

Gert expresses his gratitude towards Chinese people and emphasizes that Shanghai served his family as a place of refuge during the war.

Stefan speaks of his arrest by the Gestapo in his place of birth, Torun, Poland. Stefan relates how he was interrogated, brutally beaten and subsequently imprisoned as a result of an intimate letter he wrote to an Austrian soldier in German uniform. View his entire testimony at http://vhaonline.usc.edu/login.aspx  

In Soviet-occupied Dubienka, Poland, located by the Bug River and on the border with Ukraine, Sam Szor remembers the military fortification by German armed forces in anticipation of the upcoming invasion of the Soviet Union. He describes the invasion, which took place in the dawn of the morning hours of June 22, 1941. It was his birthday. He recalls the retreat of the Soviet armed forces and the resulting fear felt by the Jewish population with the German occupation of Dubienka.

Celina Biniaz, a “Schindler Jew,” remembers hearing about the end of the war while listening to an underground radio at the munitions factory set up by Oskar Schindler in the Brünnlitz concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. The Brünnlitz concentration camp was liberated by the Soviet armed forces in May 1945. With the approach of the Soviets, Oskar Schindler left and arranged for several of the camp personnel to leave as well. Celina Biniaz remembers her liberation and describes her liberators.

Marion Pritchard recalls bringing up the topic of homosexuality at the dinner table and how her father took her aside to discuss the importance of tolerance. She passed away in 2016 at the age of 96. Read our tribute to her.

Beatrice Becker speaks of the dangerous conditions facing the Jews of Iasi, Romania in late June 1941 when Romania entered the war as an ally of Germany. Days later, on Jun 29th, the Jews of Iasi were rounded up by Romanian and German military units. Beatrice heard screams and shooting coming from the direction of the main police headquarters. Beatrice and her parents were rounded up and  were marched toward the police station’s courtyard, where German soldiers concentrated the Jews of Iasi. The family saw many corpses along the way.  Beatrice and her mother were allowed to return home.