The Holocaust Educational Trust-Survivors Story Eugene Black
-Born 1928, Munkas (now in Ukraine, but was on the Hungarian-Ukrainian boarder
in 1928)
-Born Jenno Schwarz
-3 sisters and 1 brother (who was in the Czech army)
-Mother Jewish, father not practising- he said how little Judaism was a part of his life, this is why he didn't understand why his family were being persecuted
-1938-Munkas became part of Hungary
1944-Hungary taken over completely by Germany
-19th-29th May 1944- was ghettoised-didn't move house as his was in the Ghetto area but other shared the once family house
-14th May 1944- removed from ghetto with family
-Took to Auschwitz Birkenau -separated from family -Number 55546
-10 days after being in Auschwitz, moved to slave labour camp in Harz Mountains-drove trucks in facility where the V1 and 2 were being built-12-14 hours a day
-March 1945-sent to Bergen Belsen
-15th April 1945-liberated
-At 17 years old was homeless, only 1 brother survived
-Worked as an interpreter for the British Army in post-war Europe
-Changed his name to the English equivalent
-Met wife, Anne, a British Army nurse, married late 1940's
Moved to England 1949 and began working at Marks and Spencer's-where he continued until he
retired
-2009-discovered his 2 sisters (who he believed to have been gassed at Auschwitz) were killed in Gelsenkirchen by an RAF raid, after being made to work in the factories-says this discovery is the saddest
part of his life, but is reminded that they were not killed by the SS and that they were together until the end.
Eugene Black now speaks regularly at HET events. He spoke to me in 2009 at Leeds Univeristy. After many years of not speaking about his war years, his daughter eventually made him open up after researching his sisters (whom she found to be dead). He says that the Holocaust should be discussed and laments the fact that it took him 50 years to talk about his experiences. He believes that the more people understand the horrors of the Holocaust from the 1920's to 1945, that the horrors that took place will not be repeated. Reliving his story caused Eugene Black much suffering and hurt, he cried through much of his story, but he was defiant about the fact that he survived and that the Nazis lost.
Editors Note: to view a press release of the Holocaust Education Trust, please click on the link below:
Holocaust Education Trust Press Release, April 2012
Bibliography
Holocuast Educational Trust, Learning From Auschwitz, 2009, Leeds University-Survivors Story-Eugene
Black
HET website http://holocaustlearning.org/survivors/eugene-black-accessed 06/09/2012
Yad Vashem Photograph's Collection-http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/resource_center/index.asp
in 1928)
-Born Jenno Schwarz
-3 sisters and 1 brother (who was in the Czech army)
-Mother Jewish, father not practising- he said how little Judaism was a part of his life, this is why he didn't understand why his family were being persecuted
-1938-Munkas became part of Hungary
1944-Hungary taken over completely by Germany
-19th-29th May 1944- was ghettoised-didn't move house as his was in the Ghetto area but other shared the once family house
-14th May 1944- removed from ghetto with family
-Took to Auschwitz Birkenau -separated from family -Number 55546
-10 days after being in Auschwitz, moved to slave labour camp in Harz Mountains-drove trucks in facility where the V1 and 2 were being built-12-14 hours a day
-March 1945-sent to Bergen Belsen
-15th April 1945-liberated
-At 17 years old was homeless, only 1 brother survived
-Worked as an interpreter for the British Army in post-war Europe
-Changed his name to the English equivalent
-Met wife, Anne, a British Army nurse, married late 1940's
Moved to England 1949 and began working at Marks and Spencer's-where he continued until he
retired
-2009-discovered his 2 sisters (who he believed to have been gassed at Auschwitz) were killed in Gelsenkirchen by an RAF raid, after being made to work in the factories-says this discovery is the saddest
part of his life, but is reminded that they were not killed by the SS and that they were together until the end.
Eugene Black now speaks regularly at HET events. He spoke to me in 2009 at Leeds Univeristy. After many years of not speaking about his war years, his daughter eventually made him open up after researching his sisters (whom she found to be dead). He says that the Holocaust should be discussed and laments the fact that it took him 50 years to talk about his experiences. He believes that the more people understand the horrors of the Holocaust from the 1920's to 1945, that the horrors that took place will not be repeated. Reliving his story caused Eugene Black much suffering and hurt, he cried through much of his story, but he was defiant about the fact that he survived and that the Nazis lost.
Editors Note: to view a press release of the Holocaust Education Trust, please click on the link below:
Holocaust Education Trust Press Release, April 2012
Bibliography
Holocuast Educational Trust, Learning From Auschwitz, 2009, Leeds University-Survivors Story-Eugene
Black
HET website http://holocaustlearning.org/survivors/eugene-black-accessed 06/09/2012
Yad Vashem Photograph's Collection-http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/holocaust/resource_center/index.asp