Overview
- Interview Summary
- Chana Königl (aka Chana Andzia Königl Bressler), born in 1908 in Pasieczna (Pasichna, Ivano-Frankivs'ka oblast'), Ukraine, describes being the third of seven children of Josef Königl and Frieda Heckerling Königl; her father’s lumber business; growing up in Nadworna (Nadvirna), Ukraine; her siblings; buying a Ukrainian birth certificate from her maid and assuming the name Anna Hopka; her whole family living in the Nadworna ghetto; her mother dying of typhus in the ghetto; the fates of her siblings and father; fleeing with her sister, Giza, westward to Lvov (L'viv, Ukraine) and later to the Lublin, Poland vicinity; placing her small daughter Klara (born 1939 or 1940) with a Polish family (the Klimeks); her husband, Josef Bressler, hiding in a forest in Poland; registering with Giza at Labor Office (Arbeitsamt) for forced labor in Germany; working on a farm for Herr Kramer; working with her sister in May 1945 for the US Army near Würzburg, Germany; the American soldiers helping them find their brother, Max, in New York; having to go to court to get her daughter back from the Klimek couple; learning of her husband’s death; living in the Ansbach displaced persons camp with Klara; Giza marrying a man in the camp; immigrating to the US in 1947; and marrying Chaim Niesiecki from Baranowicze (Baranavichy, Belarus).
- Interviewee
- Chana Andzia Königl Bressler
- Interviewer
- Mr. Martin B. Koenig
- Date
-
interview:
1991
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Martin Koenig
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
2 DVD.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Restrictions on use. Restrictions may exist. Contact the Museum for further information: reference@ushmm.org
- Copyright Holder
- Mr. Martin B. Koenig
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Birth certificates--Forgeries--Ukraine. Hiding places. Holocaust survivors--United States. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Jewish ghettos--Ukraine--Nadvirna. Jewish women in the Holocaust. Jews--Ukraine--Pasichna (Ivano-Frankivs'ka oblast') Mothers and daughters. Passing (Identity) Refugee camps--Germany. Sisters. Typhus fever. World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor. Women--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Ansbach (Mittelfranken, Germany) L'viv (Ukraine) Lublin (Poland) Nadvirna (Ukraine) Pasichna (Ivano-Frankivs'ka oblast', Ukraine) Ukraine--History--German occupation, 1941-1944. Würzburg (Germany)
- Personal Name
- Königl, Chana, 1908-
- Corporate Name
- Ansbach (Displaced persons camp)
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Martin Koenig donated the oral interview with Chana Königl to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on October 8, 2015. Martin Koenig conducted the interview in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, NY in 1991.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:35:02
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn524508
Download & Licensing
- Request Copy
- See Rights and Restrictions
- Terms of Use
- This record is digitized but cannot be downloaded online.
In-Person Research
- Available for Research
- Plan a Research Visit
