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Oral history interview with Ester Eisler

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1995.A.1272.300 | RG Number: RG-50.120.0300

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    Oral history interview with Ester Eisler

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Ester Eisler, born in 1926 in Šal̕a, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia), discusses being one of four children; her family's affluence; Hungarian occupation in 1938; her older brother's immigration to Palestine in 1939; certification as a seamstress; German invasion in 1944; ghettoization; arrests and beatings of her father; transfer to the Nové Zámky ghetto; a letter from her brother noting he had documents for their immigration to Palestine; her mother's refusal to leave her relatives; deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau in May; she and one sister's separation from their family (they never saw them again); useless slave labor; her cousin arranging a privileged position as a seamstress, for which she received extra food; a male prisoner giving her better shoes; transfer to Bergen-Belsen in September, then to Duderstadt in November; slave labor in a munitions factory; a civilian worker leaving her extra food; her sister's death; a death march to Raguhn; hiding with others during the evacuation; their discovery and arrest; the local police releasing them; working for local Germans; liberation by United States troops; assistance from a Jewish soldier with whom she is still in contact; being cared for in Bitterfeld, then Halle; contacting her brother in Palestine; returning home; recovering hidden valuables; sheltering youth preparing to immigrate to Palestine under the auspices of Bene ʻAḳiva; marriage; illegal immigration to Palestine via Marseille in 1946; incarceration on Cyprus; the birth of a sickly child who died; reunion with her brother; the births of her three daughters; having pervasive painful memories; only recently sharing her experiences with her children and grandchildren; and learning five years ago that her sister was buried in the Jewish cemetery in the city of Duderstadt. (She sings a Hungarian song and shows photographs and documents.)
    Interviewee
    Ester Eisler
    Date
    interview:  1996 October 25
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation

    Physical Details

    Language
    Hebrew
    Genre/Form
    Music.
    Extent
    3 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

    Personal Name
    Eisler, Ester.

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Nathan Beyrak conducted the interview with Ester Eisler in Israel on October 25, 1996. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the tapes of the interview on December 3, 1997, as an accretion to the original collection of Israel Documentation Project interviews received by transfer in February 1995.
    Funding Note
    The production of this interview was made possible by Jeff and Toby Herr.
    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 08:16:03
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn503169

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