Overview
- Interview Summary
- Oscar Cukierman (né Uszer Cuckerman), born in Bedzin, Poland on August 25, 1925, discusses his prewar life with his parents Mendel and Cyrla and his three younger brothers Mordka-Lajb, Wolf, and Szyja; the family’s wholesale fruit and vegetable business and general store; surviving five concentration camps, two of which were Buchenwald and Gross-Rosen; the murder of his parents and brothers by the Nazis; being helped by the camp physician Dr. Zabrania who recognized him because his father Medel had been kind to the doctor before the war; the doctor’s help as one of the main reasons why he was the only member of his family to survive; being beaten, starved, and subjected to freezing weather in the camps; his liberation by the Red Army; joining the Soviet Army after the war; later traveling to Milan, Italy where he lived for six years, becoming fluent in Italian with little formal education; playing professional soccer in Milan; developing a love for music and the opera; immigrating to the United States; getting married in 1952 to the love of his life, Elaine, who was also a Polish immigrant; working briefly as a furrier in the US; learning the business of wall paperhanging and interior painting which he performed for most of his working life; and his two children Mark and Cheryl and four grandchildren Wendy, Heather, Matthew, and Brooke.
- Interviewee
- Oscar Cukierman
- Interviewer
- Wendy Cukierman
- Date
-
interview:
2012 April
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Oscar Cukierman
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
1 digital file : MPEG-4.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Restrictions on use. Restrictions may exist. Contact the Museum for further information: reference@ushmm.org
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Concentration camp inmates. Fur workers. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Personal narratives. Jews--Persecutions--Poland. Jews--Poland--Bedzin. Paperhanging. Prisoners--Abuse of. Soccer players--Italy--Milan. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Liberation. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Poland. Men--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Bedzin (Poland) Milan (Italy) Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945. Thuringia (Germany) United States--Emigration and immigration.
- Personal Name
- Cukierman, Oscar, 1925-2015.
- Corporate Name
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp) Gross-Rosen (Concentration camp)
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Wendy Cukierman donated the oral history interview with Oscar Cukierman on August 22, 2016. The interview was conducted in April 2012.
- Funding Note
- The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:38:37
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn550893
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