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Oral history interview with Yoel Shtrol

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1995.A.1272.355 | RG Number: RG-50.120.0355

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    Oral history interview with Yoel Shtrol

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Yoel Shtrol, born in 1928 in Oroszmezo, Transylvania (Rus, Romania), describes being one of four; the death of his twin brother and a sister in Auschwitz; the survival of his older brother; working in forestry; attending regular school as well as a cheder; how his family was one of four Jewish families in his village; the strong antisemitism throughout his community; the Hungarian occupation and imposing antisemitic laws; the closing of Jewish schools; going to high school in Cluj (Cluj-Napoca, Romania) and the closing of his school; going to a trade school to learn carpentry; his mother dying in 1940; persecution by the Hungarians and the Germans in 1941; the rule of the Hungarian Nazi party and Jews surviving by giving bribes; his family being allowed to keep their home by allowing it to be used as a brothel; the Jews in Oroszmezo being taken to Dej, Romania and a forced labor camp before being taken to Auschwitz; the transport in the cattle cars; being 16 years old when he was sent to Auschwitz; being sent first to the twins’ barracks and then being taken to the Roma camp to fill a quota; being separated from his family; being taken to Buchenwald two weeks later; the behavior of the Kapos and Lagerälteste; his work carrying rocks back and forth; being taken to Rehmsdorf (Tröglitz), where they worked at the Brabag factory that produced airplane fuel; being sent into the fields when the factory was bombed by the Allies; working as a helper to the chief of the Roma camp and getting extra food; returning to Auschwitz and being taken with others to Mariensberg (Marienbad) in April 1945; escaping to the forest, and being shot at by the Germans; being marched to Terezín (Theresienstadt); being taken to a large building named Camp Hamburg; being liberated by the Russians on May 8; being very sick and being taken in by a Czech family; being taken to a children’s house in Prague, Czech Republic, where he stayed for a year and a half; the children’s state of mind as depressed and hopeless; returning to his village, but not being allowed to enter his home; how antisemitism was worse than before the war; going to Germany and Hungary to search for relatives, but finding none; returning to his village and supporting himself by begging; going to Dej, where his oldest brother found him and took him to live with his family; going to Bucharest, Romania, where he joined an Aliya Bet group and went by boat to Cyprus, where he stayed for six months; being taken with a group of children to Israel in 1947; joining the IDF (Tseva Haganah LeYisra'el) in May 1948; his discharge and studying law; being the director of the immigration absorption department; and the importance of teaching younger generations about the Holocaust.
    Interviewee
    Yoel Shtrol
    Date
    interview:  1999 November 11
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation

    Physical Details

    Language
    Hebrew
    Extent
    5 videocasettes (Betacam SP) : 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

    Personal Name
    Shtrol, Yoel, 1928-

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Nathan Beyrak, project director for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Oral History Branch, coordinated the interview with Yoel Shtrol on November 11, 1999. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the tapes of the interview on August 31, 2001.
    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 08:16:22
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn509315

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