Oral History Interview with Benjamin Goldenberg

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English
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Title

Oral History Interview with Benjamin Goldenberg

Date

February 17, 1988

Contributor

Interviewee:
Benjamin Goldenberg
Interviewer:
Nora Levin

Summary

Benjamin Goldenberg was born June 21, 1910 in Tekova, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time of his birth, taken over by Czechoslovakia when he was a boy.2He was one of four children and his parents owned a store and land. He describes his pre-war town: schooling (public and Hebrew school), Zionist organizations, the diverse population that lived in that area and relations between Jews and non-Jews. When he was about nine years old the family moved to Selvus, the county seat. In 1934, he left Selvus hoping to reach Israel by bicycle with a group of Zionist friends (Betar movement). The lack of visas to cross the necessary countries forced them to back track toward Western Europe, landing them from Austria to Italy. Finally Benjamin settled inAntwerpin 1939 because of the prospect of finding work.

Benjamin and his wife lived in Antwerp, Belgium from 1939–1940. Benjamin relates that on May 10, 1940, when the war broke out in Belgium, the government gave an order to flee the country and go to France. Benjamin left with his pregnant wife and a large group of people to Paris and then he and his wife headed south to Bordeaux. There he was recruited into the army and sent to the Czech unit of the French Army stationed at Agde. The unit was moved through southern France and finally disbanded (1940/1941). After a series of sojourns in various cities of Provence, he settled in Lyon in January 1942. Benjamin describes their many different residences and how they avoideddeportation to internment camps in France. Benjamin and his wife lived in hiding posing as Christians thanks to help from the Joint Distribution Center in Nice and the Czech government in exilewho secured them false papers.

Benjamin narrates the many near disasters that befell him, his wife and children and the often miraculous escapes he managed thanks to his savvy and his dealings in the black market which allowed him to survive financially and helped him give succor to the other displaced Jews around him. He was also helped with some connections to the Resistance, the Maquis. Benjamin and his family stayed in Lyon and Paris after the war3, emigrated to the United States in 1947 and settled in Vineland and Philadelphia.


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Publisher:
Gratz College
Number of Tapes:
2
Language:
English
Identifier:
HOHAGC00169
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Copyright date:
2023
Cite this item
Oral History Interview with Benjamin Goldenberg. 1988. InterviewInterview by Nora Levin. Audio. Oral History Interview With Benjamin Goldenberg. Holocaust Oral History Archive. Gratz College. https://grayzel.gratz.edu/hoha/oral-history-interview-benjamin-goldenberg.

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