In 1944 when the Germans came into Hungary they slowly took away everything Malka Karpati’s family had and they made them wear a yellow star on their clothes. In 1944 they were sent to Auschwitz on an open train, where Doctor Mengele separated them – mom went to the left and Malka and her sisters […]
Archives: Oral History Project
Hochman, Lea
Lea Hochman comes from a small town in Poland where she grew up with her family in a farming area. Life changed after the 1939 German invasion, though it was not until 1942 that the Germans decided to get rid of her family. They were 1 of 9 Jewish families in the town, and they […]
Gutter, Pinchas
Pinchas Gutter was born in Lodz and was 7 years old when the war broke out. After his father was brutally beaten by Nazis in Lodz, he fled with his family to what they thought was safety in Warsaw. From there, Pinchas and his family were incarcerated in the Warsaw Ghetto for three and a […]
Grifeld, Tova
Tova Grifeld is a child survivor of the Holocaust. She grew up in Romania, and she shared with us her memories of the restrictions of the ghetto and of the increasing weight of the Nazi persecution. Tova was able after the war to make her way to Italy and then to Israel, where the survivors […]
Gotz, Elly
Elly Gotz was born in 1928 in Kovno, Lithuania. His war started in 1941 when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union – he was about 13 when the war broke out. Elly and his family were put into a ghetto that same year. When the ghetto was liquidated, Elly was taken to Dachau, where he […]
Glied, Bill
Bill Glied grew up in Serbia, enjoying a good life within his community. The family had a prosperous business, and Bill had many friends – and he was a skilled goalie on his soccer team. In April, 1944, that all changed: Bill was deported along with his entire family from his home town of Subotica, […]
Fulop, Ignatz
Born in Hungary in 1926, Ignatz Fulop lived on a 1000 acre ranch with his parents, his nine sisters and his brother. In 1940 most of the land was confiscated and the Fulop family was left only with their home. To Ignatz, it seemed like yesterday when he and his family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. […]
Frimerman, Leah
Leah Frimerman is from Poland. After her nation was partitioned she and her family found themselves under Soviet control and she ended up in Siberia, where she spent most of the war in labour camps. She suffered several injuries during that time but was able to head west following the war, ending up in a […]
Engel, Julien
In 1942, after the Vichy regime started arresting Jews, the Engels attempted to escape France by going to Switzerland. On the border, they were caught, and shipped to a temporary prison. They would then be shipped to the Rivesaltes interment camp. At this time, the Vichy government had a policy of releasing children. While Julien, […]
Eisen, Max
Max Eisen was born in Hungary, where he remembers his prewar life in positive terms. When the war reached Hungary in 1944, Max and his family were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where most of the family was murdered. Max survived the initial selection along with his father and uncle, but only Max was able to survive […]
Dmitry, Norma
Norma Dmitry is a Survivor who came to us courtesy of Baycrest’s Cafe Europa, where we met her in May 2012. Norma grew up in Vilna, where so much of the horror that makes up the Holocaust began. She remembers the restrictions of ghetto life as the walls closed in around them, and she compellingly […]
Csillag, Irene
Irene Csillag was born in 1925 in Satu Mare, Romania. Irene was living a good life, but when the Germans occupied Hungary in 1944, everything changed. In April 1944 Hungarian Jews were moved into ghettoes. The Hungarian authorities worked with the SS and began deporting Jews starting in the middle of May. 440,000 Jews were […]
Chandler, Howard
Howard Chandler was born December 5, 1928, in Wierzbnik-Starachowice, Poland. He grew up in the Poland of the 1930s, where the rights of minorities in the multiethnic country were supposed to be protected; in spite of this Howard remembers being bullied and the anti-Semitic taunts as a way of life at the time. Howard was […]
Brady, George
George Brady was living a quiet and comfortable life in Czechoslovakia in the period before the war. With the arrival of the Nazis however, his circumstances changed dramatically. He and his family were subjected to the various degrees of Nazi brutality and they found themselves ostracized from their community. George’s mother and father were arrested […]
Bem, Esther
Esther Bem was raised in Zagreb. Two of her older sisters, Jelka and Vera, joined Tito’s Underground Resistance Army in 1941. Jelka was caught by the Croat Fascist Ustashi in 1942 and executed. Vera was cited for bravery by Tito’s Partisans and became an officer. Esther and her parents survived by hiding in Italy with […]
Becker, Bronia
Bronia grew up in a small town called Kosowa, in eastern Poland. Her family consisted of her parents, and three brothers who were all married and had children. She also had an older sister; both girls were unmarried. They lived comfortably in Kozowa. It was a quiet town… When the war began, her town was […]
Yatabe, Minoru
Mr. Minoru Yatabe served in Canada’s armed forces during WW2, while his family and other Japanese-Canadians were battling racism and internment on Canada’s home front. Mr. Yatabe originally was from British Columbia, but he was sent to Ontario for the early part of the war, where he worked on a farm. When he turned 18, […]
Yaphe, Wilf
Mr. Wilf Yaphe was born in Toronto Canada in 1920. He went to school in Toronto and Montreal. He worked in a drug store and he later went to enlist in the war effort but he didn’t have the university credit to be a pilot in the air force, so they sent him to a […]
Wood, Anne
Anne Wood was born in Langford, Ireland; she married John Wood, aCanadian bomber pilot and together they had four children. Anne voluntarily entered the war, not to fight, but to be of help and to defend her country. She entered with one of her best friends, who became a nurse. Anne wanted to be more […]
Winer, Lorne
Lorne Winer was born November 7, 1917; he passed away in May 2023, at the age of 105. Lorne first visited Crestwood in February 2012, at the age of 95. He sat down with Canadian History 10 students Maxime Bernier and Nathan George, and told them about his life both before and after the war. […]
Waddell, John
John Waddell served in the RCN as WW2 came to a close. His overseas duty came late in the war, so John was fortunate to avoid combat and the dangerous convoys that made up so much RCN duty. He was able to see many places though, literally going around the world and visiting the ports […]
van Taack, Emma
Emma van Taack lived in Holland when the war broke out. She witnessed the German assault on Rotterdam and lived through the occupation. Becoming a teenager during the war, Emma joined a Dutch resistance cell, where she actively fought against the German forces. She assisted Allied soldiers, acted as a messenger, and risked her life […]
Stephen, John
John Stephen was 22 when the war broke out. He had just became a carpenter after 5 years of training. He was in the Merchant Navy doing Trans-Atlantic runs from Halifax to England. John did 31 Trans-Atlantic runs through the whole war. He was never in a ship that was attacked. John Stevens served in […]
Snyder, Ben
Ben Snyder was a bombardier on a B-24 in the USAF during World War Two. When the war broke out, Ben was in school, but like most of his classmates he quickly found himself in uniform in the days after Pearl Harbour. Ben ended up in the air force, and training took him all over […]
Smith, Ted
Crestwood has been fortunate to visit the Sunnybrook Veterans Wing many times since we started our partnershipin 2008. Many Sunnybrook veterans have shared their impressions of the war and of the surrounding period. None has been able to do more effectively than Ted Smith, who we met in May 2012. Ted was a pilot in […]
Slater, John
John Slater was born in Toronto in 1922. He grew up during the Great Depression, and his father had to take care of the family. Mr. Slater didn’t enlist in the war at first; he was asked to join. When he was in Europe he made some friends in Scotland and Britain. Mr. Slater and […]
Scott, Al
Al Scott grew up in 1930s Britain. He joined the Home Guard, and he remembers them having no weapons, so they inserted the WW1 Ross Rifle bayonets into gas pipes. Al was called up to enlist in 1942 and went to the infantry depot and spent eight months there, until he was posted to a […]
Scot-Brown, Charles
Born into a military family, Charles Scot-Brown said there was never a doubt about his enlistment. After growing up during the Depression, Charles joined the army and was trained as an infantryman. He was sent overseas to England and went across the Channel on June 6, 1944, as part of the second wave of Allied […]
Sanford, Chuck
Chuck Sanford was in the USAAF in World War Two. A B-17 pilot, he trained all across the United States before being shipped to Europe. Stationed in England, he flew a number of missions before an injury sent him back to the US. The army kept him on for period, using him to look at […]
Sander, Gunter
Gunter Sander grew up in Germany in the 1930s. Like virtually all German teenagers of the time he joined the Hitler Youth and later became a part of the national work force. When he was brought into the military, he was initially sent to guard islands off the coast of the Netherlands, against a potential […]