7 episodes

Life before, during and after the holocaust with Buchenwald survivor, Melvin Federbush.

In hour 5 of this series, he reveals his harrowing experiences while in Nazi occupied Poland. Melvin Federbush was born in Deblin, Poland, July 1923. He attended Cheder and Yeshiva as well as high school. Within eight days of Hitler's invasion of Poland, his parents and nine year old twin sisters were killed during a bombing attack. Melvin was taken prisoner during the Nazi occupation and forced to live in ghettos and concentration camps including Triglitz and the infamous Buchenwald.

While being transported to Theresienstadt in a cattle car he escaped. Pretending to be a Polish Christian he managed to find work on a farm until the Russian army advanced into Germany and liberated prisoners in the area as well as him. Of his entire family of approximately 110 people, only he and his brother survived.

After the war Melvin lived in Zurich and Lugano, Switzerland where he continued his education. In 1950 he immigrated to the United States and eventually became a fine arts dealer.

Melvin is active in his community. He participates in the Westchester Holocaust Education Center, the Westchester Hemophilia Association, the Holocaust Museum in Washington, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. He is a member of Yad V'Shem in Jerusalem, the World Jewish Congress and B'nai B'rith, and a long-standing member of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Most recently he helped to organize the Holocaust Generations (children of survivors) and the Debliner Societies in NY and Florida. Melvin speaks publicly of his experiences to high school students and other organizations.

Melvin Federbush's Holocaust Survivor Stories Melvin Federbush

    • Society & Culture

Life before, during and after the holocaust with Buchenwald survivor, Melvin Federbush.

In hour 5 of this series, he reveals his harrowing experiences while in Nazi occupied Poland. Melvin Federbush was born in Deblin, Poland, July 1923. He attended Cheder and Yeshiva as well as high school. Within eight days of Hitler's invasion of Poland, his parents and nine year old twin sisters were killed during a bombing attack. Melvin was taken prisoner during the Nazi occupation and forced to live in ghettos and concentration camps including Triglitz and the infamous Buchenwald.

While being transported to Theresienstadt in a cattle car he escaped. Pretending to be a Polish Christian he managed to find work on a farm until the Russian army advanced into Germany and liberated prisoners in the area as well as him. Of his entire family of approximately 110 people, only he and his brother survived.

After the war Melvin lived in Zurich and Lugano, Switzerland where he continued his education. In 1950 he immigrated to the United States and eventually became a fine arts dealer.

Melvin is active in his community. He participates in the Westchester Holocaust Education Center, the Westchester Hemophilia Association, the Holocaust Museum in Washington, and the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. He is a member of Yad V'Shem in Jerusalem, the World Jewish Congress and B'nai B'rith, and a long-standing member of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Most recently he helped to organize the Holocaust Generations (children of survivors) and the Debliner Societies in NY and Florida. Melvin speaks publicly of his experiences to high school students and other organizations.

    Mel Federbush - The Ultimate Inteview: Hour Seven

    Mel Federbush - The Ultimate Inteview: Hour Seven

    Questions from cousin Stephanie Altman Singer, how Mel and Elsa met, cousin Shirley Ikler Gordon calls in. PLUS, questions from students and much more. (1 hr. 4 min.)

    • 1 hr 4 min
    Mel Federbush: - The Ultimate Interview - Hour Six

    Mel Federbush: - The Ultimate Interview - Hour Six

    The deportations to Czestochowa, Buchenwald and Triglitz. The Russians occupy Germany, pillage and rape. Mel poses as a Nazi officer's assistant, unloading dead bodies, and his escape from a train to Buchenwald. Impersonating a Polish farmer named Jahn Worchakovsky and finally the liberation. More to come in Hour Seven. Thanks for listening.

    • 58 min
    MEL FEDERBUSH: THE ULTIMATE INTERVIEW - HOUR FIVE

    MEL FEDERBUSH: THE ULTIMATE INTERVIEW - HOUR FIVE

    Harrowing details in this episode. Mel reveals the intricate story of how his parents and sisters were killed when the war broke out in 1939. The bombing of his village. Seeing his first dead body. Working for the Nazis. Falsely arrested and tortured. Deportations to Sobibor and and Treblinka. Much more.

    • 58 min
    Mel Federbush: The Ultimate Interview - Hour Four

    Mel Federbush: The Ultimate Interview - Hour Four

    Before the war: Dreaming of being an architect,remembering his parents Feige Feldman-Federbush and her sisters, Rachel, Perl and her husband Laizer in Garvolin, Gutche in Warsaw, Leah Rosenberg, their children all named Menachem Mendel and Simcha. His grandmother, Reizl Gelman-Feldman and her sister's daughters Nachumah and Sadie - (their mothers were sisters of Mel's grandmother.) Plus, Famous songs from Deblin: Modzitzer Neggunim, Mel's Bar Mitzvah in the local shteibl, Kristallnacht and more.

    • 51 min
    Mel Federbush: - The Ultimate Interview - Hour Three

    Mel Federbush: - The Ultimate Interview - Hour Three

    Holocaust deniers, Buchenwald: Where the survivors went after the liberation. Family life before the war. Rachel: Mel's mother's youngest sister in Turobin, Mel's twin sisters (Toba, Sheindl), living in two rooms. Mel's brother Henoch who did not survive, Mel tries to ditch cheder, living together with non-Jews, communism vs. zionism. Street games and dancing in Deblin. Artwork discovered in Germany in 2013.

    • 51 min
    Mel Federbush: The Ultimate Interview - Hour 2

    Mel Federbush: The Ultimate Interview - Hour 2

    Before the war. Godl's occupation Reizel Gelman, Turobin, Chuma and Sadie, the meeting of Levi Godl Federbush and Faige Feldman, Rachel Feldman, Bar Mitzvah, Kristallnacht

    • 12 min

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