Survivors Speak

The passing on of knowledge about and the remembrance of events in the Nazi concentration camps are undergoing a significant change. Those who survived imprisonment and are able to tell about their experiences of SS terror are meanwhile advanced in age or indeed no longer alive. Insights into the fate of the prisoners, told by those who experienced the ordeals, will soon no longer be possible. And yet, an awareness for and sensibility about Nazi crimes must be kept alive. The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site possesses an extensive collection of video interviews with survivors of the camp. In six sequences former prisoners tell about their personal experiences and send their messages and wishes for future generations.

Hans Gasparitsch

March 30 1918 in Stuttgart (Germany) – April 13 2002 in Stuttgart
Prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp: 1937–1944

A typesetter apprentice, Hans Gasparitsch forms with friends in Stuttgart the “Group G” in 1934, which amongst other activities distributes pamphlets critical  … [read more]

Jerzy Kowalewski

June 9 1923 in Warsaw (Poland) – July 27 2013 in Warsaw
Prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp: 1944–1945

In summer 1939 Jerzy Kowalewski returns to his native city of Warsaw after completing high school in Switzerland. He enlists in the Polish Army and then later  … [read more]

Livia Bitton-Jackson

February 28 1930 in Šamorín (Slovakia)
Prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp: 1944–1945

Livia Bitton-Jackson is born Elvira Friedmann in Šamorín in 1930. Upon Hungarian troops occupying the Czechoslovakian town in 1938, the Jewish family is faced  … [read more]

Mario Sverco

September 19 1926 in Monfalcone (Italy)
Prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp: 1945

Mario Sverco spends his childhood in Zagreb. After the death of his parents he returns to the country of his birth, Italy, where he and his brothers are looked … [read more]

Paul Kerstenne

December 26 1921 in Ans (Belgium) – June 21 2013 in Luxemburg
Prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp: 1943–1945

Paul Kerstenne is completing his training with an insurance company in Liège when the Germans occupy Belgium in May 1940. He joins the resistance against the N … [read more]

Vladimir Feierabend

July 7 1924 in Prague (at the time Czechoslovakia)
Prisoner in the Dachau concentration camp: 1942–1945

On July 1 1942 the Gestapo arrests the 17-year-old high school student Vladimir Feierabend in Prague. Together with his family, he is detained in “kin imprison … [read more]