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Oral history interview with Ben Stern

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1995.A.1263.33 | RG Number: RG-50.166.0033

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    Oral history interview with Ben Stern

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Ben Stern, born in 1924 in Kielce, Poland, describes being the youngest of four children; his family’s move to Łódź, Poland in 1930; his father’s work producing uniforms; life in Łódź and attending public school; experiencing antisemitism; how an Austrian refugee family moved in with his family in 1938; being in school the day the war began; the group Endecja (Narodowa Demokracja) promoting hate and antisemitism; the bombing of Łódź; being taken during a roundup and made to clean the school yard with other Jewish youths; having to wear the yellow star; moving with his family back to Kielce in December 1939; how life was a little easier in Kielce; the creation of a ghetto in 1940 and living there until 1943; life in the ghetto and the lack of food; sneaking out of the ghetto to get food; the policing of the ghetto by Jews; being caught by a Jewish policeman and an SS guard while smuggling potatoes into the ghetto; being beaten and threatened; being taken to work in a local forced labor camp (Henryków), making wagons for the German forces; the deportation of his family in 1943; having to clean the ghetto with other forced laborers; receiving food from a Polish girl who worked in the factory; the heat during the summer of 1943; being sent to Auschwitz and his arrival there; being constantly worried about the crematorium and the smell from it; the roll calls; being made to bring bodies to the crematorium; work details in Birkenau; being transferred to Sachsenhausen; losing his faith while in the camps; being moved to other camps, including Dachau; contracting scarlet fever; being left behind as the other prisoners were marched to Allach; being liberated by American troops; meeting his wife in 1945; living in Karlsfeld with a German family after sneaking out of a displaced persons camp; his children and grandchildren; going to the United States in June 1949; being proud to be an American; his early years in the US and living in Columbia, SC; working as a carpenter and as a foreman for a building supply company; and his belief that all racism and prejudice is wrong and all people can learn from the Holocaust.
    Interviewee
    Ben Stern
    Interviewer
    Richard Irwin
    Date
    interview:  1991 August 15

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    2 videotape reels (1" Type C) : sound, color ; 1 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

    Topical Term
    Altruism. Antisemitism--Poland. Bombing, Aerial--Poland--Łódź. Carpenters. Concentration camp inmates--Medical care. Concentration camp inmates--Religious life. Concentration camp inmates--Selection process. Crematoriums. Faith (Judaism) Forced labor. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Personal narratives. Jewish ghettos--Poland--Kielce. Jewish police officers--Poland--Kielce. Jews--Legal status, laws, etc.--Poland. Jews--Persecutions--Poland. Jews--Poland--Kielce. Jews--Poland--Łódź. Roll calls. Star of David badges. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps. World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Poland. Men--Personal narratives. Nationalist parties.
    Personal Name
    Stern, Ben, 1924-

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The South Carolina Council on the Holocaust and South Carolina Educational Television conducted the interview on August 15, 1991. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received the tapes of the interview in April 1995.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:21:14
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn505543

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