Overview
- Interview Summary
- Irika Hirschfeld describes the pre-war life for Jews in Krakow, Poland; the effect of antisemitism on the Jewish professional class; her husband studying chemistry; the German invasion and the Jewish persecution; the formation of Krakow Ghetto in 1941; the death of her mother; the liquidation of the ghetto in March 1943; forced labor in the ghetto: unloading coal, cleaning, and working in several factories; breaking stones in Płaszów; Amon Goeth's punishment; the selection for Oskar Schindler's Emalia in June 1943; the safety of Emalia, where there was protection from SS; the story of Schindler saving a particular Jew, Mr Lamus, from execution; work in Emalia; Schindler's concern for her health and how he passed cigarettes to Jews; the drawing up of the Brinnlitz list; an Australian pilot shot down over Emalia; the clothing in Emalia; her imprisonment in Auschwitz en route to Brinnlitz; arriving at Auschwitz, the procedures, Josef Mengele's selections, and her faith in Schindler; her arrival at Brinnlitz and disappointment at the conditions; the women's appearances upon their arrival at Brinnlitz; the harshness of Brinnlitz; her brother's punishment; the deteriorating conditions towards the end of the war; Schindler's birthday in 1945 and the motives for his speech; her feelings on Schindler's departure; and a post-war reunion.
- Interviewee
- Irika Hirschfield
- Interviewer
- Jon Blair
- Date
-
interview:
1983 May 18
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Genre/Form
- Documentary films.
- Extent
-
1 sound cassette (90 min.).
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Restrictions on use. Permission to copy and/or use recordings in any production must be granted by the Imperial War Museum and by the copyright holder, Thames Television.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Concentration camp inmates--Selection process. Forced labor--Poland. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Jewish ghettos--Poland--Kraków. Jewish women in the Holocaust. Jews--Persecutions--Poland. Jews--Poland--Kraków. Quarries and quarrying--Poland. Women concentration camp inmates. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Poland. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Poland. Women--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Brnenec (Czech Republic) Kraków (Poland) Płaszów (Poland) Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945. World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Poland.
- Corporate Name
- Brünnlitz (Concentration camp) Płaszów (Concentration camp)
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
Imperial War Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The interview with Irika Hirschfield was conducted for a documentary concerning the German industrialist Oskar Schindler by Thames Television for the television program entitled "Schindler." The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum acquired a copy of the interview from the Imperial War Museum in February 1995.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 08:17:05
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn510762
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Oral history interview with Edith Liebgold
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Oral history interview with Ludmilla Pfefferberg
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Oral history interview with Richard Rechen
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Oral history interview with Mary (Manci) Rosner
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Oral history interview with Leo Rosner
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Leo Rosner describes his experiences as an inmate of Płaszów, Brinnlitz, and Gross-Rosen camps from 1943 to 1945; playing accordion at Amon Goeth's parties at Płaszów; Goeth's violent threats; the atmosphere of the parties; his first impressions of Oskar Schindler; Schindler's list; the differences between Płaszów and Brinnlitz; the story of Schindler retrieving Rosner's accordion from Gross-Rosen; his fears for his wife's safety in Auschwitz; Schindler's character; Goeth protecting the Rosner family and his unpredictable nature; the SS need for music; Schindler's drinking; the unlikelihood of surviving the war and being saved by Schindler; Schindler's character; the non-productivity of Brinnlitz; and their debt to Schindler.
Oral history interview with Marthe Scheuer
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Marthe Scheuer describes meeting Oskar Schindler in 1939; meeting Amon Goeth; Schindler's help; her first impressions of Schindler and her later knowledge of his character and life: compassion, charm, disbelief in Nazism, hatred of the treatment of Jews, work for Abwehr in Poland, and relationship with Jews; aspects of his double life in Krakow, Poland: his talking and drinking abilities, the war events crystallizing his views, gaining trust of the officials, his motives, his relationship with Goeth, and his insularity; Schindler's delight in buying a car in Berlin, Germany; Schindler's love of admiration; the journey from Brinnlitz with Schindler and his wife, Emilie, at end of war; Schindler's means and motives for saving Jews; the motivation behind his wartime success; Schindler's manipulation of people; the story of buying the car in Berlin illustrating his love of show; Schindler's motives for saving Jews; her first impressions of Schindler and his involvement with Abwehr at Krakow; the introduction of antisemitic measures; Schindler's feelings towards Jews and his desire to help people; Schindler endangering his own life by remaining at Brinnlitz; Schindler's personality, methods and motives, reasons for lack of success after war, and Sudetenlander characteristics; the escape from Brinnlitz at end of war; and Brinnlitz Jews providing Schindler with a testimonial letter.
Oral history interview with Emilie Schindler
Oral History
Emilie Schindler describes her first impressions of Oskar Schindler in 1927; their early married life in Sudetenland; Schindler's work for Abwehr; his arrest and release upon German invasion of Sudetenland in 1938; Schindler's motives for joining the Nazi party; details of Schindler's intelligence work; reasons for his move to Krakow and taking over enamel works; his continued links with Abwehr; the approach to Schindler made by Doctor Sedlacek of the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in 1942; life in Krakow, Poland; Oskar Schindler saving Jews by employing them; the necessity of bribing Amon Goeth and SS officials; socializing with the SS; Schindler's arrest and aiding his release; the decision to move to Brinnlitz and having the move arranged with authorities; Schindler's arrest on suspicion of complicity with Goeth; the SS inspection of Brinnlitz while Schindler was under arrest; the story of how Schindler secured the release of women from Auschwitz; details about Brinnlitz: conditions and work situation, Schindler's financial position, overcoming critical food shortages by trading vodka, supplying the SS garrison, and Jews stealing food; the story of a frozen train of Hungarian prisoners and nursing the survivors; refusing to cremate the Jewish dead; the SS search for black market cigarettes; leaving Brinnlitz in May 1945 accompanied by Marthe Scheuer; Oskar Schindler's love of life; reasons for the Schindlers helping Jews; Oskar Schindler's character; losing possessions while fleeing from Soviet troops; the effect of the escape on Oskar Schindler, the reasons for his post-war failure in Argentina, and his desertion of Emilie; and her attitude towards him.
Oral history interview with Sol Urbach
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Sol Urbach, born in October 25, 1926, describes his pre-war life near Krakow, Poland; his family living in Romania from 1928-1933 then returning to a town outside Krakow; avoiding the Krakow Ghetto; being selected for Oskar Schindler's Emalia 1942; details about Emalia; Schindler warning Jews of the ghetto liquidation and keeping workers at Emalia; losing family in the liquidation; Schindler's enjoyment of life and business and his contacts with the German military and SS; the reduction of the Emalia workforce in August 1944; being selected by Schindler; the politics of the Brinnlitz list; the crash of an Australian pilot over Emalia in the summer of 1944; his chance selection for Emalia; his work there and relationship with Schindler; and the reduction of the Emalia workforce in August 1944.
