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Oral history interview with Ruth Cohen

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1995.A.1272.216 | RG Number: RG-50.120.0216

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    Oral history interview with Ruth Cohen

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Ruth Cohen (originally Runia Zukerbrot), born in Kraków, Poland in 1920, discusses her childhood years; first experiences with antisemitism; German entry into Kraków and anti-Jewish restrictions; the confiscation of family valuables; learning to be a seamstress; being evicted from their home; the slave labor cleaning streets; entering into the Kraków ghetto in March 1941; the role of the Judenrat; their Ukrainian maid trading their valuables for money and food; forced factory labor; her parents hiding her and her brother during a round-up; her parents' deportation in October 1942; being deported to Płaszów, where she worked in a paper factory; Akiba Tannenbaum and his activities; public executions; pervasive fear of being killed by the Kommandant, Amon Goeth; being taken by train to camp Skarzysko after a year in Płaszów; slave labor in Werke C of a HASAG munitions factory, then a privileged office position; being transferred to Czestochowa; slave labor in another HASAG factory; being transferred to Buchenwald then Bergen-Belsen; starvation and sickness resulting in many deaths; being sent two months later to Burgau; caring for a sick prisoner; being transferred to Türkheim, where she was able to escape; receiving assistance from a villager; liberation by United States troops; reunion with her brother; her illegal immigration to Palestine in 1946; her brief incarceration by the British; and attending university; continuing contact with her family's Ukrainian maid; not sharing her experiences until a trip to Poland and a recurring nightmare that stopped after her trip; and she shares photographs and sings a song from Płaszów.
    Interviewee
    Ms. Ruth Cohen
    Date
    interview:  1995 August 25
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection

    Physical Details

    Language
    Hebrew
    Genre/Form
    Music.
    Extent
    5 videocassettes (U-Matic) : sound, color ; 3/4 in..

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Nathan Beyrak conducted the interview with Ruth Cohen in Israel on August 25, 1995. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the tapes of the interview on January 1, 1996, as an accretion to the original collection of Israel Documentation Project interviews received by transfer in February 1995.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:15:35
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn502993

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