Overview
- Interview Summary
- Eugenia Rotsztejn born on March 30, 1926 in Warsaw, Poland, discusses her large family; her father’s work as a slaughterhouse director; antisemitism before the war; being 13 years old when the Nazis invaded Poland; the bunker her family built; hiding in the bunker with a friend and her infant; the infant’s cries and the death of the infant from suffocation; being discovered by the Nazis and almost being sexually assaulted by these men; living in the ghetto for three years; the conditions in the ghetto; seeing her father for the last time in the Umschlagplatz; never seeing her brother and sister again; being taken with her mother to camp Majdanek; the train journey to Auschwitz; being tattooed with the number 48914; her work building bombs and grenades; moving from camp to camp as the Russians moved west; being sent on a death march; losing sight of her mother (she found her eight years after the war); being taken to Ravensbrück and another camp; escaping with her friend; being found by the Russians and the behavior of the Russians towards women; pretending to be a man at times to avoid unwanted attention from the Russian soldiers; returning to Warsaw and living in the street for four months; going to several UNRRA displaced persons camps; meeting her husband, David, in Modena, Italy; staying in the DP camp in Santa Maria di Leuca, where her son was born; going to Argentina in 1949 with her husband and her son; reuniting with her mother in 1956; running a textile business with her husband; being part of the founding of the Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires; and helping to create the monument in the cemetery La Tablada for those who fought in Warsaw.
- Interviewee
- Eugenia Rotsztejn
- Date
-
interview:
1992 August 05
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Kathryn Lichtenberg
Physical Details
- Language
- Spanish
- Extent
-
1 sound cassette : analog..
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
- Concentration camp escapes. Death march survivors. Death marches. Forced labor. Hiding places. Holocaust memorials. Holocaust survivors. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Personal narratives. Infanticide--Poland. Jewish ghettos--Poland--Warsaw. Jews--Persecutions--Poland. Jews--Poland--Warsaw. Refugee camps--Italy--Modena. Refugee camps. Sexual harassment. Textile industry--Argentina. Weapons industry. Women concentration camp inmates. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Poland. World War, 1939-1945--Refugees. Women--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Argentina--Emigration and immigration. Buenos Aires (Argentina) Germany. Modena (Italy) Poland--History--Occupation, 1939-1945. Santa Maria di Leuca, Cape (Italy) Warsaw (Poland)
- Personal Name
- Rotsztejn, Eugenia.
Administrative Notes
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- Kathryn Lichtenberg donated the oral history interview with Eugenia Rotsztejn to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2014.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 09:34:45
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn96189
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Also in Kathryn Lichtenberg and Walt E. Lichtenberg collection
The collection consists of a silver baby cup, correspondence, documents, a journal, a taped interview, and a Pentateuch relating to the experiences of the Lichtenberg and Stein families during and after the Holocaust.
Date: 1992
Lichtenberg and Stein families papers
Document
The Lichtenberg and Stein families papers include biographical material, correspondence, subject files, and photographs relating to the Lichtenberg and Stein families pre-war, wartime, and post-war experiences in Germany and the United States. Lichtenberg family papers include biographical material for Hermann Lichtenberg and Alfred Lichtenberg, wartime and post-war correspondence between family members, school records for Hermann, and immigration records for Alfred, Hermann and Kathe, Hermann’s sister, as well as family photographs. Stein family papers include biographical material for Siegfried Stein, school records for Irma Stein, and immigration records for Irma, Adolf, and Benjamin Stein as well as family photographs. The collection also includes family history and research. Biographical materials include Hermann Lichtenberg’s birth and vaccination certificates, University ID card, Reisepass (German passport), United States immigration card, and documents relating to his military service including a letter from his mother at the end of the war. This series also includes Alfred Lichtenberg’s Reisepass (German passport), a school notebook, and documents relating to taxes and restitution as well as selective service cards for Siegfried Stein. Correspondence consists mainly of wartime letters from Max, Hedwig, and Benjamin Stein to Irma Stein after she immigrated to the United State and before they were deported. The series also includes additional correspondence between the Stein family including Siegfried and Adolf, Irma’s cousin, as well as letters to the Stein family. Subject files include school records for Hermann including report cards, correspondence from Universities regarding admissions, an acceptance letter to Columbia University, and correspondence granting Hermann a leave of absence from school as well as a report card for Irma Stein. Immigration materials include an immunization certificate for Irma, work papers, correspondence from the American Consulate, a pamphlet from the U.S. Department of Labor, telegrams regarding obtaining affidavits, an affidavit for Adolf and Benny from Nate and Morris Stein, and an affidavit from Hermann for his sister, Kathe. The series also includes family history and research including photocopies of research, correspondence from the American Federation of Jews from Central Europe, Inc. regarding missing relatives, a list of former Jewish citizens from Hannover, excerpts from a newsletter attempting to identify people in photographs, and a booklet from the Memorial and Archive for the Bettina Schule listing students who were forced to leave school in 1933 because of anti-Semitic laws, including Irma Stein. This series also includes a memoir written by Laura Falk to her children, Gertrude and Edward, about their family history as well as a translation provided by a family member. Photographs includes original and copies of pre-war, wartime, and postwar photographs of the Falk family including Edward and Erna as well as photographs of the Lichtenberg family tombstones. This series also includes originals and copies of pre-war and wartime photographs of the Stein family including Siegfried, Irma, Max, Hedwig, Adolf, and Benjamin as well as photographs of family tombstones.
Prayer book
Object
Pentateuch [Torah] volume relating to the Lichtenberg and Stein families during the time period of the Holocaust.
