Trains and Tracks

This document is a composite of several items. It includes a formal invitation from French President François Mitterrand to Monsieur and Madame Elie Wiesel for a reception held on August 28, 1990, at Drammensveien 80, Oslo, Norway. The reception was to honor Elie Wiesel's elevation to the dignity of Grand Officier of the Legion d'Honneur, following his Nobel Peace Prize. Additionally, the document contains multiple handwritten personal notes or postcards, dated September 26, 2000, and October 24, 2000. These notes are addressed to 'Marion' (or 'Maïon') and convey congratulations for a 'belle récompense' (beautiful reward) and express warm wishes. One note is signed by 'Hanniste & Noel' and another by 'THORAR.'. The front of one postcard features an image of a Bamana Bogolan textile from Mali, with details about its origin and previous collection by Charles Ratton.

Rita Harmelin, nee Brauner, was born June 17, 1925 in Bucharest, Romania to Polish-born parents who returned to Poland in 1931. The family moved to Boryslaw an oil town. She describes her secular and religious education and interactions with local Poles and Ukrainians. Rita describes life under Russian occupation September 1939. Rita's memories of the German invasion of Boryslaw, June 1941 include efforts of local Ukrainians to save Jews. She focuses on successive waves of pogroms encouraged by Germans and carried out by local Poles and Ukrainians. A Jewish quarter or ghetto was established in Boryslaw. There were periodic roundups leading to deportation. BertoldBeitz, a director in the local petrol industry and Mr. Siegemund rescued many Jews, including Rita from the deportations several times. Restrictions increased gradually. Many Jews worked in the Boryslaw petrol industry. A forced labor camp was established in 1943 for the Jewish workers guarded by Ukrainian volunteers. She mentions escape attempts by workers. Rita, her future husband Rolek, and 11 other people went into hiding in the home of a local Ukrainian from March to August 7, 1944 when Russian troops arrived and re-occupied Boryslaw. Her parents were deported before they could accept an offer to hide in a Polish woman’s house. Her mother was killed in Auschwitz, her father survived. Jews from Boryslaw were transported to Plaszow, Poland but the final transport, July 1944 went directly to Auschwitz. Rita explains why resistance was difficult; the attitude of the Polish underground (ArmiaKrajowa) andmost Ukrainians toward Jews. Her post-war experiences include return to Poland; search for and reunion with her father in Austria in 1945; smuggling herself in and out of Poland. Rita and her father joined her husband (whom she married in Austria) in Australia on January 9, 1949. Rita mentions her guilt as a survivor and how she told her children about her past. She describes life as a Jew in Australia. She gives examples of acts of humanity and compassion by individual non-Jews (Polish, Ukrainian and German). Interviewee: HARMELIN, Rita Date: April 26, 1992

Alexandra Gorko, nee Paley, was born in Kiev, Russia in 1916. In this follow-up interview she briefly describes conditions in Bergen-Belsen: clothing, food, and her work in an ammunition factory. She reflects on the issue of resistance and her decision to disobey Mengele’s order to inject pregnant women with a gasoline-type substance. She also acknowledges that she refused to cooperate in the act of throwing babies from the windows of the Lodz Ghetto hospital where she was a supervisor and nurse. She refers to her brother’s involvement with a group of 12 men who built a secret radio and dissem‌in‌ated BBC news March 1940 until January 1942 when they were exposed and sent to Chelmno for gassing. In referring to her knowledge of what was transpiring under the Nazis, she discusses the de‌cep‌tion perpetrated by the Nazis as well as the inability of people to believe the reports that circulated even when clothes resembling those of friends and relatives were delivered to the ghetto. For additional information on Mrs. Gorko's experiences, see the original interview by Eileen Steinberg on August 19, 1985. See also the interview with her husband Anatole Gorko.

Mr. Di Giorgio served in E Company, 232nd Regiment, 42nd Division of the Seventh Army during World War II. He briefly describes some of his combat experiences and the heavy losses his division took. His unit entered Dachau in April, 1945 shortly after it was liberated, under orders to clear all the buildings and tunnels and then to move on. He saw some survivors and a few guards who tried to blend in with them, a lampshade made out of human skin, and many so-called "Forty and Eights"-- cattle cars stacked with bodies ready for cremation. He explains how what he saw at Dachau profoundly affected him, renewed his will to fight, and increased his religious observance. He was moved to testify because of his perception of widespread disbelief about the Holocaust. Interviewee: DI GIORGIO, Philip Date: December 6, 1994

This press release from The Eisenhower World Affairs Institute and Gettysburg College announces that Nobel Laureate and human rights advocate Elie Wiesel will be awarded the Dwight D. Eisenhower Leadership Prize on May 20, 1997, at the Washington Hilton and Towers. The award recognizes Wiesel's significant contributions to human rights and leadership, reflecting President Eisenhower's legacy. Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor, highlights Eisenhower's visit to Buchenwald in 1945 as a pivotal moment for memory and strategic planning. General Colin Powell is slated to pay tribute to the liberators of death camps at the event. The document also details Wiesel's other accolades, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the establishment of The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, emphasizing his commitment to human rights and ethical discourse. Background information on the prize, the Institute, and Gettysburg College's historical ties to Eisenhower is also provided.