Oral history interview with Max Biderman

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1991.A.0112.2 | RG Number: RG-50.045.0002

Overview

Interview Summary: Max Biderman, born February 11, 1917 in Luków, Poland, describes his family; growing up in Poland; the beginning of the war; his family hiding during the roundups; the execution of Jews by the German Army; being caught with two of his brothers and forced to walk to Siedlce, Poland, where they were put in jail; being marched to a town 20 kilometers away and escaping with one of his brothers; returning home and hearing of the deportations to Treblinka; the creation of a ghetto in 1942 during the New Year; hiding during a deportation and the death of one of his brothers; living in the ghetto; working in a German factory; avoiding another deportation by hiding in the woods; contracting typhoid; witnessing the shooting of one of his brothers; being hidden by a Polish couple; hiding with several other Jewish boys; being hidden by a Polish farmer named Bronkevitch; defending themselves against a group of 40 armed men (possibly the Armia Krajowa); hiding in the forest; his group taking revenge on a farmer who denounced hidden Jews; reading newspapers; the arrival of the Russian Army; returning to Luków; finding the Prengler family (he later married Helen Prengler, RG-50.045*0001); going to Brest-Litovsk (Brześć Litewski), Poland after the war; going to Katowice, Poland then Munich, Germany; immigrating to the United States in September 1949; his children and grandchildren; not sharing his story with his children until recently; visiting Poland in 1984 and showing his children where he hid; the importance and danger of having a gun during the occupation; and testifying against a war criminal.
Interviewee: Max Biderman
Interviewer: James Pennebaker
Alan Griffin
Date: interview: 1985 November 10

Physical Details

Language: English
Extent: 2 videocassettes (VHS) : sound, color ; 1/2 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: Hiding places--Poland. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Personal narratives. Jewish councils--Poland--Luków (Lublin) Jewish ghettos--Poland--Luków (Lublin) Jews--Persecutions--Poland. Jews--Poland--Luków (Lublin) Massacres--Poland--Luków (Lublin) Prisons--Poland--Siedlce. Shooting (Execution)--Poland. Typhoid fever. War crime trials. World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities--Poland. World War, 1939-1945--Collaborationists--Poland. World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor--Poland. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Poland. World War, 1939-1945--Destruction and pillage--Poland--Luków (Lublin) World War, 1939-1945--Jewish resistance--Poland. World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Poland. Men--Personal narratives.
Geographic Name: Brzesć Litewski (Poland) Katowice (Poland) Luków (Lublin, Poland : Powiat) Luków (Lublin, Poland) Munich (Germany) New Orleans (La.) Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945. Siedlce (Poland) United States--Emigration and immigration.
Personal Name: Biderman, Max, 1917-
Corporate Name: AK-Home Army (Poland)

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: Dallas Holocaust Museum, Center for Education and Tolerance
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: James Pennebaker and Alan Griffin of the Dallas Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies conducted the interview with Max Biderman on November 10, 1985. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History branch received the tapes of the interview from the Dallas Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies on March 18, 1991. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the interview by transfer from the Oral History branch in February 1995.
Special Collection: The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive

Record last modified:: 2023-11-16 08:08:58
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn506593

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