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Oral history interview with William Eisen

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1990.338.13 | RG Number: RG-50.037.0013

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    Oral history interview with William Eisen

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    William (Bill) Eisen, born in 1920, describes growing up in Miechow, Poland; surviving the war after being in camps in Kracow, Płaszów, Skarzysko, Czestochowa, and Buchenwald; his father’s occupation; his four brothers and sister; experiencing persecution and antisemitism before the war; participating in scouts, Zionist organizations, and sports; going to a trade school to learn tailoring; the antisemitic parties became very strong in Poland in the 1930s; Polish neighbors collaborating with the Nazis; the ghetto being formed in 1940; the deaths of all his brothers; life in the ghetto and working on the highways; being taken to the camp Płaszów, from which he twice tried to escape but was recaptured; the liquidation of the ghetto in 1942 and his father’s fate; being taken to another camp, where he worked in a tailor shop; a typhus epidemic, during which the sick were killed, and being saved by his supervisor; food rations; being taken to Skarzysko; his work with ammunitions; becoming ill from the chemicals; avoiding execution as well as an accidental explosion; being taken to Czestochowa, where there was more food; working in a tailor shop; being taken to Buchenwald in January 1945; being given a pair of leather shoes which probably saved his life later; working in a coal mine until April 1945; marching towards Theresienstadt and the death of many on the way; being liberated by the Russians; returning to his hometown and not finding any family; and the importance of giving testimony about the Holocaust.
    Interviewee
    Mr. William Eisen
    Interviewer
    Mrs. Toby Back
    Date
    interview:  1990 July

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    1 videocassette (VHS) : 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
    Eisen, William, 1920-

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Toby Ticktin Back of the Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo conducted the interview with William Eisen with the cooperation and support of WIVB-TV in Buffalo, N.Y. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History branch received copies of interviews from the Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo from 1990 - 1993. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives received the collection by transfer from the Oral History branch in February 1995.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:08:15
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn511772

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