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Oral history interview with Leon Benson

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1999.A.0122.15 | RG Number: RG-50.477.0015

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    Oral history interview with Leon Benson

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Leon Benson (né Leon Samuel Szmelcan), born in Łódź, Poland in 1931, describes his family’s immigration to Paris, France when Leon was three years old; his father’s work as a furrier; the German occupation of Paris; being deported with his mother (Yana Benson), older brother, and younger sister to Auschwitz; being separated from his mother and sister, but remaining with his brother for a brief time; working in a grenade factory; being sent on a forced march to Buchenwald towards the end of the war; being liberated by the US Army in April of 1945; returning to Paris and living in a home for child survivors; being the only survivor from his immediate family; joining the Zionist movement and planning to immigrate to Israel; being contacted by relatives of his mother who had settled in the US and deciding to go to the US; living briefly on the east coast before moving to San Francisco, CA; his wife Lillian and their two sons and daughter; and ushering for the San Francisco Opera and the San Francisco Giants during his retirement.
    Interviewee
    Leon Benson
    Date
    interview:  1992 July 29
    interview:  1992 August 25
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Jewish Family and Children's Services of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    2 videocassettes (SVHS) : sound, color ; 1/2 in..

    Rights & Restrictions

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

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Benson, Leon, 1931-

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project conducted the interview with Leon Benson on July 29, 1992 and August 25, 1992. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received the tapes of the interview from the Bay Area Holocaust Oral History Project in August 1999.
    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 08:43:23
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn507687

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