Oral History Interview with Abram Shnaper

Harold Stern, formerly Helmutt, was born August 31, 1921 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, the only child of middle class Jewish parents. His father came from an Orthodox background and his mother was raised in a non-observant home; as a family, they belonged to a large Liberal Congregation, the West end Synagogue in Frankfurt. Harold describes the educational system and antisemitism pre- and post- 1933. He discusses the Kultusgemeinde, his Jewish education, upbringing, and his studies at the Philanthropin (a Jewish secondary school), which he attended in 1935 due to increased Nazism and antisemitism experience at the public Gymnasium. His mother continued the family business after his father’s death in 1930, but had to give it up (1937) as a result of the Nuremberg Laws. He describes the “aryanization” of a shoe manufacturing company and other businesses where he was apprenticed/employed. Despite having an early quota number, Harold’s attempts to emigrate with his mother to USA were thwarted because their affidavits were not accepted by the American Consulate in Stuttgart. In March 1939, Harold left for England through the aid of family friends in England and Bloomsbury House, while his mother remained in Frankfurt. He describes life in London, working as a factory trainee, residing among British (non-Jewish) working class, until June 1940 when he was picked up and interned in Huyten, a camp near Liverpool, with other German Jewish refugees. In July 1940, he volunteered for transport on the Dunera, a ship supposedly bound for Canada but re-routed to Australia. He discusses in detail the desperate conditions at sea, harsh treatment by British soldiers, and refugee behavior during the ten week voyage. From Sidney, he was transferred to a barbed-wire enclosed compound in the Outback, in Hay, New South Wales. He refers to the internal camp leadership which emerged, the development of cultural and educational activities. He details help given by the Australian Christian Student Movement (under Margaret Holmes), Jewish Welfare Board, and Jewish people of Melbourne. Later he moved to a camp in Tatura, Victoria that had better conditions. After 20 months of internment, he joined the Australian army, the 8th Employment Company, where he did transport of munitions. He was discharged in 1946 or 1947, after serving 4 1/2 years in the army.

Harold kept contact with his mother and knew that she reached USA in late 1941. Through the help of a non-Jewish woman, she obtained a visa in September 1941, left Germany on a sealed train (to Berlin), journeyed through occupied and Vichy France and Spain to Lisbon, boarding one of the last steamers from Portugal to America. Her brother, however, was arrested by the Gestapo and never seen again. Her sister, a musician, later hospitalized in a sanitarium was “euthanized”.

Harold immigrated to the USA in 1947 under the German quota. In 1959, he moved to Philadelphia.

Leo Mantelmacher, the second youngest of five children, was born in June 23, 1919 in Kozienice, Poland. His father was a tailor. Leo describes him as a religious and self-educated, multilingual open minded person. Leo details pre-war life in Poland, including several incidents of abuse by antisemitic students, teachers and adults, especially around Easter. He contrasts the good relations with the Volksdeutsche that lived nearby.

Leo details life after the German invasion in 1939 and brutal treatment of Jews by the SS. Leo and some other Jews were transported to Radom, and housed with Jewish soldiers segregated from the Polish army. His sister was able to bribe a Volksdeutsche in the camp to get Leo out. Back in Kozienice Leo made clothing for local Poles in exchange for food. Leo cites may occasions when so called “miracles” helped him to survive. Leo describes the creation of the Kozienice Ghetto and briefly mentions several brutal killings of children by Germans and the killing of Moishe Brunstein, a member of the Judenrat, by fellow Jews. He mentions a few times when Poles assisted them for money: delivering their bartered food payment so it would not be confiscated from Leo and holding some fur for Leo who would have been shot for smuggling. Leo explains how he was one of several hundred people from his ghetto who were saved from 1942 ghetto liquidation1 when the Poles requested the Jewish labor force be able to stay to finish draining the swamp.

Leo was deported in October 1942 to Wolanów labor camp where he did brutal cement work. Leo witnessed piles of Russian POW corpses upon their arrival at Wolanów labor camp and describes that Italians were executed in front of them by Ukrainian SS. He also recalls one Polish worker who treated Leo humanely, helped him secretly make clothes which he was able to barter for food and helped Leo’s brother Max when he had typhoid fever. In early 1943, Leo volunteered for an ammunition work brigade in Radom to try to reunite with Max. He talks about his near starvation until Max was able to smuggle him some gold which he traded for bread.

In July 1944 Leo went on a forced march to Tomaszow-Mazowiecki where he spent about six weeks digging anti-tank ditches on almost no rations. He describes arrival at Auschwitz and a selection by Dr. Mengele. Two days later, Leo and others that had not been killed upon arrival were sent by cattle car to Vaihingen, near Stuttgart, to dig tunnels for German factories. Again he made caps and clothing to trade for food. He also recalls that an elderly Polish guard hid him so he could rest from the brutal labor.

In late 1944 Leo and other surviving prisoners were moved to Dachau concentration camp. After four weeks, everyone was given a Red Cross package and taken out of Dachau. Leo relates the bad experiences his group had after liberation: almost being shot by fleeing SS and lack of shelter and food. Their ordeal ended when they encountered American troops. After staying in a private home they were sent to Mittenwald Displaced Persons camp for six or seven weeks. He recounts how his sister found him and he was reunited with her and his other siblings all of whom survived. Leo came to the United States in 1949.

See also the interview with his brother, Max Mantelmacher.