Overview
- Interview Summary
- Samuel Kessel, born in Shavel (Šiauliai), Lithuania on March 10, 1922, describes working from a young age in a bakery to support the family; his family; how around the age of 16 he and his family were sent to live in a ghetto; how he spent the next 6 to 7 years in other ghettos and concentration (labor) camps in Germany; spending the majority of his time in Dachau; how he, his brother (Binke or Benjamin), and his brother-in-law (David Floch) managed to stay together throughout the war; how his sister, Sonia, was sent elsewhere, and his brother, Kalman, managed to escape to Russia before the war; how the rest of his immediate family were killed or died in the camps; spending the 18 months following liberation in displaced person camps in Germany and part of the time in Paris, France, where he was waiting for a visa to Mexico; how a cousin who had immigrated to Mexico City, Mexico well before the war had notified the Red Cross that he would sponsor and pay for the travel of any family members who had survived the Holocaust; how he and Benjamin eventually made it to Mexico; starting to work immediately; learning Spanish; getting married in 1950; owning and running successful businesses in Mexico City, Juárez, and San Diego, CA before retiring to El Paso, TX; having three children with his wife Lea; and having many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
- Interviewee
- Samuel Kessel
- Interviewer
- Shayna Kessel
- Date
-
interview:
2005 May 11-2005 May 24
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Shayna Kessel
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
14 digital file : MP3.
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
- Copyright Holder
- Shayna Kessel
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Germany--Personal narratives. Holocaust survivors--United States. Jewish ghettos--Lithuania. Jewish refugees--Germany. Jewish refugees--Mexico. Jews--Lithuania--Šiauliai. Refugee camps--Germany. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Germany. Men--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- El Paso (Tex.) Germany. Mexico City (Mexico) Paris (France) Šiauliai (Lithuania) United States--Emigration and immigration.
- Personal Name
- Kessel, Samuel, 1922-
- Corporate Name
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Shayna Kessel donated the oral history interview with her father, Samuel Kessel, to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on April 28, 2014.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:32:07
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn80242
Download & Licensing
- Request Copy
- See Rights and Restrictions
- Terms of Use
- This record is digitized but cannot be downloaded online.
In-Person Research
- Available for Research
- Plan a Research Visit
