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Oral history interview with Sam Ackos

Oral History | Accession Number: 1992.A.0126.2 | RG Number: RG-50.156.0002

Sam Ackos (Semanto Menachem Ackos), born November 10, 1931 in Breveza (possibly Preveza), Greece, describes his parents; his family’s religious practices; being friends with Gentiles; his four sisters; the Italian take over of Greece; the lack of food and people dying of starvation; listening to the BBC in Greek; the high level of involvement in the underground movement and participating in sabotage; his father going to fight with partisans; the poor living conditions and struggling to find food; moving to Athens, Greece when he was five years old; getting false IDs; hiding in the basement of a house off and on between 1943 and 1944; selling cigarettes on the black market; witnessing a roundup; the camp for Jews in Chaidari (Haidari); his father being taken away and never learning what happened to him; the black market in Athens; getting food in the villages outside the city; life immediately after the war; his mother’s decision for them to go to the United States; going to the US before his mother and sisters in January 1951; receiving aid from the United Jewish Appeal; going to St. Paul, MN; being a taxi driver; his interactions with other Holocaust survivors; his love for life; and his love for the US.


Some video files begin with 10-60 seconds of color bars.
Interviewee
Sam Ackos
Interviewer
Rhoda G. Lewin
Date
interview:  1982
Language
English
Extent
1 sound cassette (90 min.).
 
Record last modified: 2023-11-16 08:18:16
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn510653