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Examples: Selected Short Biographies

These short biographies give an impression of the diversity of the interviewees' experiences and life stories.

You can find more exemplary short biographies in the sections "Life Journeys" (with biographical maps) and "Events and Topics" (with thematic short films). To listen to the whole interviews, you must be registered.

Jorge S.: Buchenwald prisoner, later Spanish Culture Minister

The Spanish communist joined the resistance against the German occupation during his exile in France. From 1943 to 1945 he was interned in Buchenwald concentration camp. After the war he became a writer, fought Franco´s dictatorship, and became the Culture Minister of Spain in 1988.

Wasyl B.: Former “OST-Arbeiter” (Eastern Worker), went to England after 1945

The Ukranian Wasyl B. was deported to Baveria to perform forced labor in 1942. He did not want to return to the Soviet Union in 1945, so he went to England via Belgium in 1948. Looking back, he considers this to be the best decision he ever made.

Eva B.: Hungarian Jew, immigrated to the USA after concentration camp internment

Hungarian Jew, Eva B., was transported to Auschwitz as a child and transported to a subcamp of Flossenbürg. After 1945, she immigrated to the USA and worked in health care.

Miroslav D.: Czech prisoner in a "labor education camp"

The Czech Miroslav D. is assigned to perform forced labor in a steel plant in Steiermark. He was interned in two “labor education camps” on grounds of escape attempts.

Anna P.: "OST-Arbeiter" (Eastern worker) in agriculture

As a 14-year-old Anna P. was abducted from her Belarusian village to the German Reich in 1943. She performed forced labor on a farm near Linz.

Walentina K.: Belarusian kitchen help in Reutlingen

Walentina's mother actively supported the partisan campaign which led to the arrest of mother and daughter in February of 1944. Walentina was tortured during the interrogation and was deported a few days later to work as a forced laborer in Germany, her mother to France.

Shain A.: Macedonian Rom, forced laborer in a mine

Shain A. was discriminated and forced to work in a mine near Skopje.

Emilia B.: Polish forced laborer in Berlin battery factory

Emilia B. was deported to Berlin to perform forced labor in 1943. She returned to her hometown and lives today in a three-generation household in her parents’ house. Out of a longing for her home, she began writing poetry in Berlin.

Paul Ch.: French forced laborer (STO) in Bunzlau

The French Paul Ch. was committed to perform forced labor in Germany in 1943 within the framework of the Service du Travail obligatoire (STO). Forced labor in a munitions depot, as a forest worker, in a cardboard factory and an aircraft plant.

Liliana S., Italian Jew, deported to Auschwitz at age 13

The Italian Jew, Liliana S., fled to Switzerland in 1943 but was sent back by the Swiss police and then deported to Auschwitz. There she survives the selection and works in a metal plant.

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