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Oral history interview with Leah Kaufman

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1995.A.1272.367 | RG Number: RG-50.120.0367

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    Oral history interview with Leah Kaufman

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Leah Kaufman, born circa 1932 in Gertsa, Romania (presently Hertsa, Ukraine), discusses being the youngest of seven children; attending private Hebrew school; her mother's role as a midwife and healer; antisemitic violence; joyful holiday and Sabbath observances; Soviet occupation; Romanian takeover; fleeing with her family after being warned they would be killed; a reprieve from execution when a Romanian soldier recognized her mother as the woman who had delivered him; returning home; a death march to Edineț in fall 1941; continuing to Ataki; her father's murder and disappearance of her brothers; staying overnight in Mohyliv-Podilʹsʹkyĭ, then transfer to Shargorod; one sister's death; transfer with her mother and twin sisters to the Kopaygorod ghetto; smuggling food for her family; her sisters' and mother's deaths; escaping to seek her aunt in Mogilev; a non-Jewish woman feeding and clothing her; continuing her journey; being mauled by dogs; women rescuing and caring for her; finding her aunt in the Mogilev ghetto; living in an orphanage; escaping; living as a non-Jew with a local woman; Jews denouncing her; deportation to Peciora; observing cannibalism; escaping; staying with many peasants en route to Mogilev; staying with the local woman with whom she had previously lived; renouncing her Judaism; moving to a Bucharest orphanage in 1944; apprenticeship as a dressmaker; her brother finding her; moving to an orphanage for children going to Palestine; missing that opportunity due to illness; her other brother finding her; attributing her survival to many simple peasants who helped her; plastic surgery in Canada to repair facial scars from the dog attack; her education there; and abusive treatment by a German psychiatrist when applying for reparations in 1968.
    Interviewee
    Leah Kaufman
    Date
    interview:  2000 March 02
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    4 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

    Topical Term
    Altruism. Cannibalism. Concentration camp escapes. Death march survivors. Death marches. Dog attacks. Escapes. Holocaust survivors--Israel--Interviews. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Identification (Religion) Jewish children in the Holocaust. Jewish ghettos--Ukraine--Kopaygorod. Jewish ghettos--Ukraine--Mohyliv-Podilʹsʹkyĭ. Jews--Identity. Jews--Ukraine--Hertsa. Jews--Ukraine--Kopaygorod. Jews--Ukraine--Mohyliv-Podilʹsʹkyĭ. Jews--Ukraine--Transnistria (Territory under German and Romanian occupation, 1941-1944) Orphanages--Romania. Orphanages--Ukraine. Passing (Identity) Surgery, Plastic. World War, 1939-1945--Children. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Romania. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. World War, 1939-1945--Reparations. Women--Personal narratives.
    Personal Name
    Kaufman, Leah.

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Nathan Beyrak, project director for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Oral History Branch, coordinated the interview with Leah Kaufman on March 2, 2000. 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 08:16:27
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn509350

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