Oral History Interview with Isadore Hollander

Isadore Hollander, born 1920 in Paris, France, describes moving to Bendin (Bedzin), Poland with his Polish parents and older sister in 1923; the pre-war Jewish community; his father’s death and living from ages 11 to 15 in an orphanage, which operated according to Janusz Korczak guidelines; his mother’s re-marriage; joining a Zionist youth group; the growing antisemitism in Poland; the German invasion in September 1939 and running from town to town to avoid forced labor, until he was captured and sent to work in a coal mine in Javorzno near Krakow, Poland; escaping to Russian-occupied Poland and living in Lvov (L'viv, Ukraine) at the beginning of 1940; avoiding imprisonment for “illegal” business by registering for work in Russia; being assigned to Stalino coal mine in the Donbas region; escaping to Rovno (Rivne, Ukraine) and his religious life there from the winter of 1940 to June 1941; the establishment of the Rovno ghetto and escaping from slave labor with help from former Polish soldiers; living with 10 other Jews in near by forests until 1943; having minimal contact with Polish partisans due to mutual suspicion; serving in the Polish Army; witnessing the German-evacuated Majdanek; his life as a Polish soldier including revenge he and other Jewish soldiers took on Volkdeutsche Poles; returning at the end of the war to Bendin and meeting his future wife; their escape from Poland and life in Deggendorf displaced persons camp in Bavaria, Germany; and immigrating to the United States and settling in Philadelphia, PA in 1947.

Date: 10/25/1982
Interviewer: Josey G. Fisher
Interviewee: Isadore Hollander
Language: English
Subject: Antisemitism--Poland.
Coal mines and mining--Poland.
Concentration camp escapes.
Forced labor.
Holocaust survivors.
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives.
Jewish ghettos--Ukraine--Rivne (Rivnens'ka oblast')
Jewish orphanages--Poland.
Jewish youth--Poland--Societies and clubs.
Revenge.
World War, 1939-1945--Conscript labor.
World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Poland.
World War, 1939-1945--Participation, Jewish.
Zionists.
Men--Personal narratives.
Location: Paris, France
Będzin, Poland
Jaworzno concentration camp
Lviv, Ukraine
Donetsk, Ukraine
Rivne, Ukraine
Lublin-Majdanek concentration camp
Deggendorf displaced persons camp
USA
Permalink: https://hoha.digitalcollections.gratzcollege.edu/item/oral-history-interview-with-isadore-hollander/