HOLOCAUST EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES

Preserving History

Selfhelp is dedicated to remembering the Holocaust and raising awareness of the survivor population still in need today. Through creative educational initiatives, we’re ensuring that the memory of the Holocaust will not be forgotten by generations to come. Help us educate future generations about the Holocaust.

SHARING SURVIVORS’ STORIES ONLINE

Tibor, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client

Tibor was born in Budapest, Hungary in the summer of 1934. Tibor’s father, Mor, came from an Orthodox family and had three other brothers. Tibor’s mother was not very religious on her own. Tibor’s mother, Ilona, was born and raised in the countryside of Hungary, and travelled back and forth to Vienna. Before Tibor’s parents got married, Mor had been considered Polish living in Hungary. Before he proposed, Ilona made one contingency… that Mor and his brother’s would become Hungarian citizens. By doing this, it had saved his parents and ultimately, Tibor’s life. Read more.

Margareta, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client

Margareta was born in Gerta Mica, Romania in 1938. According to the 1930 Romanian Census, approximately four precent of the people identified themselves as being Jewish. She lived with her mother, father, and older sister. When Margreta was growing up, her and her family, including her grandparents who lived nearby, were forced to wear Yellow Stars. Margareta didn’t understand why until she got older. Her father and uncle were taken to Budapest and put in jail. Margareta’s father, Samuel, wrote to her mother, Ilona, telling her that the Nazi forces had taken him from Hungary to Germany. After Margareta’s father wrote to her mother, Nazi forces began to collect the Jewish people in smaller towns and bring them to Satu Mare, where they were holding people in temples.

When Ilona saw this, she never would have imagined that it would have lasted for over a year. Her mother took her because she was the youngest and ran away. Margareta’s mother left her older sister with her grandparents. Margareta would never see her older sister or grandparents again. Margareta’s father had a very good friend who knew someone in another village and took them there. Margareta and Ilona were hidden in an attic for two months. This attic did not have a chimney and it was very hot and often full of smoke. Her mother constantly told Margareta to keep quiet otherwise they would be killed. One day, Margareta recalls she was going to scream and dance because she was choking on smoke and couldn’t breathe.

Ilona sent word to her father’s friend from the small village and he eventually took them into the woods. Margareta and her mother were in a cave for over a year. Margareta and her mother had to lie down or sit a specific way in order to fit. Her father’s friend couldn’t come to see them often because the Nazis were watching him and his family. When he did come, they would receive very little food, water, and oil. When it would rain, the water would come through the roots and left the cave damp. Ilona was constantly telling her to be quiet and they were only allowed to exit the cave in the middle of the night. Because of this experience, Margareta has suffered from terrible arthritis since the age of six. Eventually, Romania was liberated by the Russians.

For several months after the end of the Second World War, Margareta would cry and be frightened at the sight of people. One weekend, her mother’s very good friend took Margareta to her house so her mother would be able to rest. Prior to this moment, Margareta and Ilona had no knowledge of whether or not her father was alive. Samuel had taken a train to the larger city of Satu Mare and needed to rent a horse and carriage to bring him home to his family. He just so happened to knock on the door of her mother’s friend. This was the first time Margareta met her father, although, it was not the reunion she expected because her older sister had perished in the Holocaust.

Her and her father travelled home and her parents gave birth to a girl, Margareta’s younger sister. Margareta was the only Jewish child left in the surrounding villages and people used to come from far and wide to see her. She was considered to be a miracle child.

After the war, Margareta was introduced to her husband, Mayer (also a Holocaust survivor who survived Auschwitz) and the two got married six months later. Margareta and her family had been applying for passports and visas to come to the United States. Her mother, father, and younger sister were approved for theirs. However, Mayer and Margareta were not approved because they had a small child. Margareta’s parents left Romania in 1960 and they had sent back all that they could to Margareta and her family. It was very difficult for Mayer to get a full time job because they had applied to leave the country. Eventually, they received word that their papers had been approved. They first had to travel to Vienna, where Margareta experienced antisemitism from the person who rented a bedroom to them. They lived in one bedroom for four months until they were able to leave and join her parents and sister in the United States in 1965.

When they emigrated to the United States, Mayer worked as a delivery man and Margareta worked in sales in different department stores like B. Altman and Loehman’s. Margareta and Mayer were married for almost sixty five years before he passed away from Covid in 2020. Margareta’s proudest achievement is having her daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren, whom she adores immensely. She is also very proud to live in the United States.

Sonia, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client

Born in Poland, Sonia was forced to live in the Warsaw Ghetto until the middle of 1943, when she was taken to Madjanek and shortly after to Auschwitz. In January, 1945, she was sent to Ravensbrück in Austria for a short period until she was sent to Malchow until February, 1945. She was on a death march and liberated in April of 1945 by American soldiers in Mittenwald, Germany. Sonia met her husband in Mittenwald, where they had their son and opened the first Jewish business after the war. They settled in Buffalo, New York, where Sonia had a successful catering business. Sonia is also very proud of her volunteer involvement with Hadassah, Amit and State of Israel Bonds.

Anne, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client

Anne was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1925. Her father’s business was confiscated by the Nazis. Anne attended Philanthropin, a school for Jewish children, because she was no longer permitted to attend the local German school. Her close friends were forbidden to associate with her. In 1938, Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) was a 24 hour horror for her and her family. First, the Nazis came and took her father to Buchenwald. Then, they stood in front of her house with torches, threatening to burn it down. About two hours later, a Jewish friend of her parents arrived seeking shelter. The next morning, the brother- in-law of the boarder was gone. He had fled into a nearby forest and out of despair, died by suicide. That same night, Anne’s mother’s cousin and son came to their home after her husband was taken to Dachau. These memories are a recurring nightmare for Anne.

Anne’s mother took her father’s Iron Cross medal, which he had earned as a decorated German World War I veteran, to the authorities in Frankfurt am Main. They released him from Buchenwald after three weeks, but said that he must leave Germany within four months or they would re-arrest him. Her father left for England in April of 1939. He planned to seek affidavits for her mother and brother, but was unsuccessful and they both perished in Auschwitz. Anne fled Germany on the last Kindertransport train in August of 1939 to seek refuge in England. In January 1940, Anne and her father reunited in England and left for the United States.

After her arrival in the United States, Anne lived in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey for three years with her aunt and uncle, while her father lived in New York City. At that time, the United States was still at war with Germany. Anne and her uncle were suspected of being spies for the German government and the FBI went through their home. They were summoned to the police station and were questioned for espionage.

Years after World War II ended, Anne married Sy and they had a son, Alan, who became a lawyer after attending Princeton and Columbia Law School. Alan and his wife, Marion, live in White Plains, New York; Anne has two grandchildren, who live in California. Her son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren have been a part of the happiest moments in Anne’s life and she reflects fondly on these memories.

Robert Brajer, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client

Robert was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1938. In 1942, his father was conscripted into the Hungarian army and in 1943 his family apartment was seized. In 1944 he, his mother and grandmother were rounded up with all the other Jews in Budapest and brought to the town square. Robert narrowly escaped being separated from his mother and grandmother, and the three of them were relocated to the ghetto where they stayed, under terrible conditions, until they were liberated by the Russians in 1945. After the war, Robert lived with his mother and grandmother. They often spent time with his four aunts who were the only other members of their family to survive. His father never returned. In 1956, at the age of 18, Robert and some friends were able to escape Communist Hungary and cross the border into Austria. On December 24, 1956 he finally boarded a ship which would bring him to the United States. He settled in New York City and met his life-long partner, Jimmy. They lived together for 55 years until Jimmy passed away in 2017.

Henry Musat, Holocaust Survivor & Selfhelp Client

Henry was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1924, where he lived with his mother, father, and older sister. On Kristallnacht, his father was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Buchenwald concentration camp for four weeks. Henry’s father was later released because he’d been a German soldier in WWI and considered a war hero. However, Nazis seized his father’s business and gave it to his prior employee, who was a Nazi.

For some time, Henry’s family remained in Leipzig as forced laborers, making furs for the German troops in Russia. In January 1943, they were deported to Theresienstadt, a hybrid camp-ghetto. Nazis told Henry this was an honor from Hitler, bestowed because of his father’s WWI service.

In Theresienstadt, Henry was forced to collect clothing from the deceased. When the Red Cross visited in 1944, Nazis order Henry to prepare the camp-ghetto for inspection. From there, his family was transported to Auschwitz, a concentration and extermination camp, and separated. As Henry later found out, his father, mother, and sister were executed in Auschwitz’s gas chambers.

From there, Henry was transported to Friedland, a sub-camp of Gross-Rosen, where he worked in a factory making propellers until Russians troops liberated him in 1945. He returned to Theresienstadt and then to Leipzig looking for his family. During his search, he learned that they’d been killed in Auschwitz.

Eager to build a new life, Henry and his wife were smuggled into US-occupied Germany and later, in 1949, immigrated to the USA. Henry pursued a career in the New York City fashion industry, starting as a messenger and working his way up the command chain.