Overview
- Interview Summary
- George Tobias, born in 1923 in Danzig, Germany (Gdansk, Poland), describes his childhood in Germany; his education; experiencing antisemitism in his school; his father’s textile business; the Nazi rise to power; the Zionist youth movement; being in the Zionist boy scouts and sports groups; being an only child; his parents applying for visas to the United States in 1937; going to Besançon, France and the journey there; the anti-German feeling in France and being considered Austrian because of his Austrian father; life after Kristallnacht and his parents being forced out of their home in Danzig; being mistreated during a train journey to Paris, France; his parents fleeing to Italy in 1939 and sending their money to relatives in the US; working at a hotel in Evian, France; finishing hotel management school in 1940; being taken on his 17th birthday to an internment camp in Les Milles, France; remaining in the camp for two weeks and going to Nice, France; his father being sent to a camp in Calabria, Italy (possibly Ferramonti); his parents fleeing to Spain then Portugal; working in a French restaurant; his parents’ journey to the US; meeting his parents in New York, NY; being drafted in 1942; being sent to the Army Specialized Training Program and going to the University of Illinois for a few months to learn technical subjects; being put in the signal corps but requesting to be transferred to the intelligence service; volunteering for the Office of Strategic Services; landing in southern France with his team for four; their forged documents and hiding their identities; his attitude towards Germans; being reassigned as an interrogator in the regular army; being a second lieutenant in assigned to the seventh army division; interrogation styles; getting his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University after the war; being a travel agent; and identifying as an American.
- Interviewee
- George Tobias
- Interviewer
- Rosalyn Manowitz
- Date
-
interview:
1978 April 01
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
4 sound cassettes (60 min.).
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
- Antisemitism in education--Germany. Holocaust survivors--United States. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Identification cards--Forgeries--France. Jewish families. Jewish soldiers. Jews--Education--Germany. Jews--Germany--History--1933-1945. Jews--Legal status, laws, etc.--Germany. Jews--Poland--Gdansk. Kristallnacht, 1938. Military interrogation--United States. Military training camps--United States. Ration cards--Forgeries--France. Scouts (Youth organization members) Synagogues--Destruction and pillage. World War, 1939-1945--Military intelligence--United States. World War, 1939-1945--Participation, Jewish. World War, 1939-1945--Veterans--United States. Men--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Aachen (Germany) Besançon (France) Camp Albert C. Ritchie (Md.) Evian-les-Bains (France) Gdansk (Poland) Les Milles (France) Nice (France) United States--Emigration and immigration. Washington Heights (New York, N.Y.)
- Personal Name
- Tobias, George, 1923-
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The interview with George Tobias was conducted by Rosalyn Manowitz. Rosalyn Manowitz wrote an account of the experiences of survivors who were members of the Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation for distribution to its members. The interview was given to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on October 13, 1993.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 08:17:49
- This page:
- http://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn510643
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