Overview
- Interview Summary
- Jack Silven (né Zylberstejn), born on July 8, 1919 in Biala Podlaska, Poland, discusses his family and home life while growing up in Brussels, Belgium in the 1920s and 1930s; Germany’s invasion of Belgium on May 10, 1940; fleeing on a train from Brussels to a town in southwestern France, Saint-Gaudens, with his parents and one sibling, Regine Zylberstejn (now Regine Ginsberg); their time in a Vichy-controlled concentration camp near Toulouse, France in 1940; immigrating to the United States with his parents and sister in 1942 with the help of a cousin in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Hyman (“Hymie”) Moravitz (aka Morovitz); his first months in Pennsylvania; being drafted into the US Army in January 1943; and becoming an Army officer stationed in Europe until mid 1946.
- Interviewee
- Jack Silven
- Interviewer
- David Silven
- Date
-
interview:
1988 November 23
- Geography
-
creation:
Dallas (Tex.)
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of David Silven
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
1 digital file : MOV.
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
- Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Jewish refugees. Jewish soldiers--United States. Jews--Belgium--Brussels. Jews--Persecutions--Poland. Jews--Poland--Biała Podlaska. Jews, Polish--Belgium. Men--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Belgium. World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Europe. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--France. World War, 1939-1945--France. World War, 1939-1945--Participation, Jewish. World War, 1939-1945--Refugees. World War, 1939-1945--United States. World War, 1939-1945--Veterans--United States.
- Geographic Name
- Belgium--History--German occupation, 1940-1945. Biała Podlaska (Poland) Brussels (Belgium) France--History--German occupation, 1940-1945. Lublin (Poland : Voivodeship) Pittsburgh (Pa.) Saint-Gaudens (France) Toulouse (France) United States--Emigration and immigration.
- Personal Name
- Silven, Jack, 1919-1999.
- Corporate Name
- United States. Army
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- David Silven donated his interview with his father Jack Silven to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in April 2021.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 10:09:27
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn723837
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