Miriam - A Holocaust Survival Story (Documentary)

sit down relax my name is Miriam vog December 15 I was born December 15 1921 I was born in colish it was a very nice big city it had museums had schools had University my parents I was an only child my parents mother and father they were in a kind of embroidery business that was very famous and khish that's how it went back to my grandfather and then to my father like I said and even now we brought it back to America I went to a Jewish gymnasium you know High School this was a high school gymnasium everything went smooth was okay until 39 the war broke out the German King came to khish and then right away after they went to after the Jews the majority was evacuated outside khish to a ghetto because there were still quite many people there Jewish people that they were sick they could not be evacuated so they decided to make from a building a highrise like a hospital they needed people a little bit not a little bit quite a bit to take care of these sick people they found a man who was also the embroidery business and that he should take care of this building he knew my father because they were in the same business and he picked us mom my dad and I to stay in this building to take care of the sick people so I stayed there in that building with my parents quite a few years until they decided the the German to liquidate this Hospital in other words to send the sick people by buses to exterminate them I was a young woman and my parents they were still not very old or sick they sent us to the ghetto to L manad ghetto luch a very famous ghetto that they put from all the neighborhood not only from khish any people that's that still survived they put in that ghetto the ghetto was starvation ghetto there were really people were dying from hunger and from sicknesses I was there till 44 I think the ghetto except that we were all starving there was some work done some people were sowing whatever they needed the worst part of the ghetto it was almost like concentration C the hunger and the sicknesses because of the starvation people got sick very sick and then they decided the Germans to liquidate the ghetto so they sent them to [Music] AIT and I was among them to be sent to AIT my parents too but there was a doctor there you know I do you know anything about it you never heard of anything about the ghetto so I should tell you first when they brought us to asit was we were going through a line and this line tell us how you got to asit Oh by those trains can you tell us about that you okay you have to remind me already because I look I'm not 100 ghetto to a how did you get yes you you heard about those trains they shipped us from the ghetto to outf there was no toilet there was no air and people were really dying there right away it was horrible but somehow some people survived some people died and in in that train in that and we they took us to a like I said first they took us to a shower and they shaved our hair the man the woman everybody we got naked they suspected that a lot that the Jewish people probably sold in gold or money or jewelry in they clothes that's why they made us get undressed completely first to them they were going through all this club because it was true when they had something they put it in the and it sewed in in the clothing and then was a doctor that manga I don't know if you ever heard this Dr mangala 50 years a ago at a railroad siding at a killing field called awit a German SS officer named Joseph mangala Doctor Joseph mangala stood on the platform and with a flick of his finger sent tens of thousands to the gas Chambers who was standing and he was choosing who goes to the right and who goes to the left if anybody like I was still young and I guess they thought they can still use me they took me let's say to the right but my mom and my dad they took them right away to the left my mom right away went to the guest chamber but my father they took him to work they didn't send him to the guest but they put him separate to send them for hard labor the way they were feeding us there everybody was eating from the same dish and all the newcomers or they we were hungry whatever I remember myself I could not see myself eating from all these dishes that everybody ate so I remember all these old people that they were there longer they were waiting for us we shouldn't be able to eat and give it to them well it was terrible we're sleeping on the floor one on top of the other and then I have to remember 12:00 at night this was in in the winter they took us out to really to punish us to go out almost naked at night in the winter they were sending people to work and they picked me to go to work because I was a pretty goodlooking girl you know so they sent me where I could choose pick the clothing I remember to separate the clothing for other people when they come well then they were sending the people the majority uh to different concentration camps the Russians were coming closer to Germany and to all this where where the Jews were hiding or they kept them whatever and they were starting to move us from one place to another far further from the Russians in out I was about about uh 6 months but then like I said the Russ were coming closer and the German were moving started to move us to a different camp at different concentration camp at night as they were taking us all a lot of people died on the trip right away they couldn't make it and then when when it was at night they took us to the barn straw and uh that's where you we slept I was very fortunate that when I heard people the Farmers on that farm that we stayed overnight in the bom speaking polish so I went over to them and I spoke polish and I said to them that I that I speak Polish that I am from Poland could they keep me here overnight when the Germans are will taking us again on the road are moving they never saw a Jewish person in they like life they imagine a Jewish person I am not exaggerating has noses like this horns and eat onions that's what they had their they learned because they never saw they were talking Jew Jew Jews Jews Jews but what are the Jews already how do they look well anyway these Farmers saved me they kept me I was so unnourished I was eating a dozen eggs a day and cream and and food because there were other with us there they said well why keep you keeping ha why don't you to keep us more oh no you are Jews and she's not well completely that I survived that I'm here that I can make it 100 years after all what I went through is a miracle and I was there with these Farmers that polish Farmers until the war broke up and this was in 45 we heard that Rosevelt we listening to the to the uh to the radio and they said that Rosevelt died and the war is over the Mortal remains of Franklin Delano Roosevelt president of the United States during the long trial of War and the best American friend Britain ever had are born to the White House here the body lies in state I wish that Franklin D Roosevelt had live to see this day General Eisenhower informs me that the forces of Germany have surrendered to the United Nations the flags of freedom fly all over Europe and I I was there and then I uh they kept me and then I figured I didn't want to be stay there on the farm and live on the farm I wanted to go back to college to find out if anybody after all I had aunts and uncles and cousin although I was an only child but they were more in the family and I at this I don't remember how I got back to colish from these Farmers I don't remember this is like a dream then I came back to colge nobody ex remained there and then I had an uncle in New Jersey in America my mother's brother who came here years back and he had the same business opened in New Jersey that we had in college I wanted to come to America very very much I didn't want to stay anymore I said the only place America so they send me a Visa and it wasn't so easy I had to go back to Germany to be in a DP Camp displaced person camp for two years mindu to wait until I could come to America some of them had gone back to their homes after being freed from concentration camps only to find they were not wanted they bring back reports of violence from such towns as Lodge and Kaka they tell of stones having been thrown through their Windows of threatening letters promising death if they do not leave in 24 hours bruised and decimated after 6 years of Hitler they still have no peace the terrorization of some of them has led to General alarm and in the next 3 months some 20,000 Jews may be added to the 35,000 now in this area and I came to America after 2 years waiting waiting but of course the condition were not so bad there when I was in college that time I met there were other people coming looking for uh relatives but I got acquainted with with with my husband he is from khish and he found his brother in kalish and I was there by myself and little by little I said I am going uh to America he wasn't so sure if he wants to go to America he thought he wants to go to Israel because that time Allah they all triy to save the Jews and take them to Israel but I said I am not going to Israel I had already ghos and I had already one thing if you want to go to Israel you go by yourself if I want to go only to the United States and we came to the United States oh we got married when we were there two years you remember I said we were in Germany two years we were waiting to to for the visa to come so we got married there you could get married that time in Germany for a cup of coffee coffee was the most that the German love even for even today coffe is they M they do anything for coffee came we got married there and then we came to the United States I had $60 because somebody gave me a gold watch and I sold that watch to have some money and I got for the $60 so I came with $60 my husband with nothing luckily we were very hardworking but one thing my husband had an education in wara he was attending the university in wara before the war so when he came we came here to America he somehow was educated you know I remember his first job whatever they try his first job was that they sending they were sending him to Brooklyn on a Subway at night because he knew how to count and separate FS or whatever there some some kind of colors well little by little they knew that he's bright and so my family that were working in that embroidery business I worked a machine on a sewing machine in America because we had in Poland a sewing machine for the factory and I learned how to sew an a sewing machine so I worked and he worked mind you we saved $25,000 and for the the $25,000 they took my husband to the a part of the business to my uncle we saved and we did well he invested a little bit should I tell him the stock market we started in the Bronx there was a Jewish organization they took care of these Jews newcomers well little by little hard work and saving money we somehow succeeded that I can afford to live here I was an only child and I had only one child Steve and of course Steve got married to June very strong woman hi my name is Steve vul I'm Miriam vul's only son and today I'm going to show you some memorability and other documents about my mother's life and my father's life Irving vul in KES Poland before the war and immediately after the war when they were in a displaced person's camp and came to the United States this is the kalish book kalish was a small City in central Poland where both my parents were born and lived before World War II this book contains lots of pictures and stories about Jewish life in kales in the 1920s and 30s kales was invaded by the Germans in September of 1939 and after that my mother was sent to a ghetto in ludge Poland which was to the east this picture is Miriam's grandfather Joseph sidel and this picture is her father sender sidel who worked in the embroidery business this is a certificate issued to my father Irving vul testing that he was in aitz from August 17th 1942 through May 6 1945 and he was liberated from mous another concentration camp on May the 25th 1945 after the war was over my parents wanted to come to the United States but they needed a Visa and that was hard to get so they stayed in a displaced person's camp or DP camp and this is the card that was issued to them while they were in the camp this is a this is the marriage certificate of my father Irving and my mother they were married in the DP camp on December 24th 1946 this is their wedding picture and these are other pictures from the DP Camp after staying in a DP camp for almost 2 years my parents received the visa to travel to the United States they came to the US on a ship called the Ernie pile and this is their embarcation card uh indicating that they departed on the 5th of April 1947 when my parents traveled to this country on the Ernie pile they were loan money by the American distribution committee a relief organization and this document uh uh which was dated about 18 months after they came here uh asks for the loan to be repaid it was $390 which was a lot of money at that time my message is first of all I am surprised myself my brain still works look without notes I I take care of myself 100% the the oxygen I fix myself the the tank of the mo oxygen I replace myself I do everything myself and I'm 100 and a half years old they willing to survive because you see per say nobody wants to die nobody wants to die everybody wants to [Music] live [Music]

Channel: Alston Crosby

Views: 9,851

Keywords: holocaust, documentary, utahfilm, uofuf&mad, film&mediaarts, utahfilmcenter, sundance, shortfilm

Id: py7N8tOEoWk

Length: 25min 49sec (1549 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 04 2023