Oral history interview with Helen Biderman

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1991.A.0112.1 | RG Number: RG-50.045.0001

Overview

Interview Summary: Helen Biderman (née Prengler), born April 21, 1928 in Luków, Poland, describes her four brothers; her parents; growing up in Poland; the chaos of the beginning of the war; the roundup of Jews by the German Army on October 5 and the subsequent execution near a church; the deportations from Luków; going with her family to a nearby town; being forced to live with several families; the winter of 1940; her parents hiding while she stayed with an aunt; being moved to a ghetto with the other Jews; hiding with her family in an underground space during the deportations; being discovered by a Polish fireman hiding in various places; staying for seven to eight weeks in her grandfather's underground bunker with 17 members of her family; hiding with a German woman who owned a brick factory; being found by the Germans and the death of her younger brother; life in the ghetto from the end of 1942 to May 2, 1943; the attempt by some Jews to form a resistance group; falling ill with typhus; being attacked by a German Shepherd; hiding outside the ghetto; her parents reopening their business and staying until April 1945; moving to Katowice, Poland for a year then going to Munich, Germany for three years; her family getting papers to move to the United States; getting married and living in New Orleans, LA; how the Holocaust brought her family closer together; and her feelings about Germans.
Interviewee: Helen 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: Restrictions on use

Keywords & Subjects

Topical Term: Curfews--Poland. Dog attacks--Poland. German shepherd dog. Hidden children (Holocaust) Hiding places--Poland--Luków (Lublin) Holocaust survivors--United States. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Personal narratives. Jews--Legal status, laws, etc.--Poland. Jews--Persecutions--Poland. Jews--Poland--Luków (Lublin) Massacres--Poland--Luków (Lublin) Typhus fever. World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities--Poland. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Poland. World War, 1939-1945--Destruction and pillage--Poland--Luków (Lublin) Women--Personal narratives.
Geographic Name: Katowice (Poland) Luków (Lublin, Poland : Powiat) Luków (Lublin, Poland) Munich (Germany) New Orleans (La.) Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945. United States--Emigration and immigration.
Personal Name: Biderman, Helen, 1928-

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 Helen 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 July 17, 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:: http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn507427

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