Testimonies
Eyewitnesses to History
Below you can find recorded video testimonies from Holocaust survivors in New York City and Long Island who recall memories from 1938 to 1944, which include mass arrests, deportations, concentration camp life, and liberation by the Allied forces.
You can also click here to register for the virtual Holocaust speaker series featuring survivors and descendants of survivors who share stories of life before, during, and after the Holocaust. The series is organized by the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, sponsored by Margaret and Michael Valentine, and presented in partnership with the Harriet & Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage.
- Testimony: Ellen Bottner
Ellen Bottner, a Holocaust survivor, grew up in Germany under the Third Reich. She describes her experiences on the Kindertransport, life under refuge with a foster family in England, the fate of her extended family during the Holocaust, and reflections about intolerance in the world today. Click here to watch. - Testimony: Rosette
Rosette, a Holocaust survivor, was born in France, and hidden by Catholic farmers while her mother was a part of the French Underground. Unaware of her Jewish heritage until she was older, she discusses her struggle with her identity, her mother’s resistance experience, and life during wartime. Click here to watch. - Testimony: Manfred & Gerd Korman
Brothers Gerd and Manfred Korman, Holocaust survivors, describe their family’s deportation from Germany, their last-minute rescue on the Kindertransport, and the fate of their parents who had completely different experiences during the war. Click here to watch. - Testimony: George Schiffman
George Schiffman, a Holocaust survivor, was born in the former Czechoslovakia in 1926 to a family of bakers. The oldest of his siblings, George describes an easy childhood before being deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland at the age of 17, where he was a forced laborer and taken on a death … Read more - Testimony: Felice Katz
Felice Katz, a 2nd generation Holocaust survivor, talks about her mother Ethel who was the sole survivor of her family of six. Born in Buczacz, Poland (present-day Ukraine), her family went into hiding after Nazi occupation. After they were gunned down, Ethel survived for months without food or water by hiding in a crawlspace in … Read more - Testimony: Judith Gross
Judith (Judy) Gabor was an infant when her family was protected in one of the safehouse apartments in Budapest, Hungary organized by Swedish diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg. Although Judy’s mother was deported to a women’s camp, Wallenberg’s heroic act helped save tens of thousands of Jewish lives from subsequent death, including Judy and her maternal grandmother. … Read more - Testimony: Kurt Goldschmidt
Kurt Goldschmidt, a Holocaust survivor from Hamburg, Germany, discusses his experiences in as a teenager who was half-Jewish during the war. His memories include interactions with the Gestapo, his deportation to the Theresienstadt ghetto in the former Czechoslovakia, as well as reflections on lessons that can be learned from the Holocaust. Click here to watch. - Testimony: Renée Kann Silver
Renée Kann Silver, a Holocaust survivor who was born in the German state of Saarland in 1931, recalls her experiences living as a Jewish child among the culture of German Nazism and French patriotism. Eventually her family was deported to the Gurs concentration camp in southern France, where her mother made the decision to send … Read more - Testimony: Arnold Newfield
Holocaust survivor Arnold Newfield, born in the Westerbork, Holland transit camp during World War II, recalls his family’s experiences in various concentration camps, their liberation, and eventual immigration to the United States. Click here to watch. - Testimony: Kate Haberman
Kate Haberman, a Holocaust survivor, provides a detailed testimony of life in pre-war Hungary (present-day Romania), her family’s deportation to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, her brutal interactions with Nazi SS guards–including Dr. Josef Mengele–and surviving the Holocaust. Click here to watch. - Testimony: Gabor Gross
Gabor Gross was born in Debrecen, Hungary in 1935. At the young age of eight years old, Gabor was deported from his home along with his mother and older brother. He was taken to Austria where he was a forced field laborer before being taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Gabor was liberated from the … Read more - Testimony: Anita Weisbord
Anita Nagel Weisbord, a Holocaust survivor who sadly passed away in November 2022, shares her experiences growing up in a Jewish family in pre-war Austria, her recollection of Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, her experience being deported to England during the Kindertransport, and her immigration to America. Click here to watch. - Testimony: Hanne Leibmann
Hanne Liebmann, born in Karlsruhe, Germany, describes pre-war antisemitism, her family’s deportation to Gurs concentration camp in southern France, the refuge she was provided by community of Protestant pacificts in Le Chambon, France, her escape into Switzerland, and reflections about modern authoritarianism versus that of Nazi Germany. Click to here to watch. - Testimony: David Widawsky
David Widawsky, a 2nd generation Holocaust survivor born in the Landsberg Displaced Persons camp in Germany, discusses his father’s experience in the Łódź, Poland Ghetto, his deportations to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp in Nazi-occupied Poland and the Kaufering concentration camp complex in Germany, as well as the death march his father endured. David also shares … Read more - Liberation
Life did not seamlessly return to normal following liberation. Survivors Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, Hannah Horon, Ethel Katz, Hannah Deutsch, Cynthia Zalisky, Steve Berger, and Hanne Liebmann realized the total extent of Nazi brutality, struggled to live within hometowns that were still antisemitic, and face a world that ignored the truths of the Holocaust. Click here … Read more - Threads of Memory Project
In their own words, local Holocaust survivors share their experiences leading up to, during, and after World War II during an arts-based workshop. - The Holocaust Unfolds
As the Nazis rose to power in Europe, Jewish life was severely impacted. Survivors Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, Hanne Liebmann, Hannah Horon, Ethel Katz, Hannah Deutsch, Cynthia Zalisky, Steve Berger, and Eddie Weinstein describe the moments when they began to feel terrorized. Click here to watch. Above image: Shop damaged during Kristallnacht. Photo credit: United States … Read more - Remembering
In order for future generations to understand the impacts of hatred seen at its pinnacle during the Holocaust, survivors Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, Cynthia Zalisky, Ethel Katz, Hannah Deutsch, Steve Berger, and Hanne Liebmann ask others to pass on their stories and respect all cultures to emphasize the message of “Never Again.” Click here to watch. … Read more