Henry Friedman, a Holocaust survivor, was born on October 22, 1931. Henry was born in a small town in Hungary called Nyireghaza. He went to English and Hebrew school and spent his time with his friends and family. Henry was the youngest of two brothers and a sister. He lived as normal of a life that a Jew in Eastern Europe could live with his parents and siblings. When the German occupation of Hungary began in 1944, the situation changed quickly; Henry and family were deported to Auschwitz, where most of his family was murdered on arrival. Henry and his father were selected out for the work camps, and Henry passed through a succession of them in 1944-45, until his liberation. With the end of the war, Henry first went to Sweden, before crossing the Atlantic to the U.S. and Canada, where he made his new life.
Henry was interviewed for this project in February 2015; we met him at Baycrest, courtesy of the Azrieli Foundation. The students who had the privilege of sitting down with Henry were Taylor Frankfort, Mehmet Hocaoglu, Topaz Katsav, and Dana Dubovsky.
Videos
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- 1. Henry Friedman - Life before the War.mp4
- 2. Henry's Father; The Occupation and Auschwitz.mp4
- 3. The Family Divided; The Psychology of Day-to-Day Life in the Camps.mp4
- 4. Buna, Dora, and Belsen; Henry Loses his Father .mp4
- 5. Sweden; The Letter.mp4
- 6. NYC; The American Army; Henry Finds his Brother.mp4
- 7. Toronto and Marriage; Coping with the Trauma.mp4
- 8. Going Back; Staying in Touch; Education.mp4
