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Dr. H. Fenigstein - 24 Feb. 1976

Dr. H. Fenigstein - 24 Feb. 1976
Name
Dr. H. Fenigstein
Material Format
sound recording
Interview Date
24 Feb. 1976
Source
Oral Histories
Name
Dr. H. Fenigstein
Number
OH 244
Subject
Warsaw (Poland)--History--Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 1943
Jewish ghettos
World War, 1939-1945
United States--Armed Forces
Concentration camps
Interview Date
24 Feb. 1976
Quantity
2 cassettes (1 copy)
2 WAV files
Total Running Time
58 minutes
Conservation
Copied August 2003
Digitized in 2014
Biography
Dr. H. Fenigstein was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1913. He was raised in an affluent, assimilated neighbourhood. He entered the study of medicine at the University of Warsaw in 1931. He served three years with the Military Academy for Sanitary Officers (i.e., for medical and paramedical graduates) in the Polish army. At the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939, Dr. Fenigstein worked at a military hospital. In April 1940, he was sent to the Warsaw Ghetto and started to work as the head of the pathology department at the Jewish Hospital. In 1948, Dr. Feningstein published "The History of the Jewish Hospital in Ghetto Warsaw." Some of his research was published in "The Hunger Disease," a collection of research papers that were hidden during the war. With the final liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, Dr. Fenigstein was transported to several labour camps and was liberated by the Americans on 30 April 1945. After the war, he moved to Munich, where he worked for UNRA and the University of Munich. Dr. Feningstein immigrated to Canada in September 1948. Dr. Feningstein died in 1993.
Material Format
sound recording
Geographic Access
Canada
Munich (Germany)
Warsaw (Poland)
Original Format
Audio cassette
Copy Format
Audio cassette
Digital file
Transcript
Side 1 00:00: Dr. Fenigstein graduated from high school in 1931 in Warsaw, Poland and studied medicine at the University of Warsaw. 00:26: Dr. Fenigstein recounts some of his earliest childhood memories relating to Russian occupation of Warsaw. For example, he recalls seeing horse-drawn streetcars carrying wounded Russian soldiers, German soldiers coming to Warsaw in 1916, German soldiers confiscating valuables from his home, bad food, etc. 2:18: Dr. Fenigstein’s family lived in an assimilated part of Warsaw, not with the majority of Jews. 3:00: Dr. Fenigstein’s father was a professional electrical engineer, who graduated from university in France in 1909. 3:30: Dr. Fenigstein lists his education history. 4:48: Dr. Fenigstein recalls a military coup in Warsaw in 1926 by Józef Pilsudski. 6:07: Dr. Fenigstein notes that his personal life was not affected until 1939. In 1939, he had been practicing medicine for three years and had served three years with the Military Academy for Sanitary Officers (i.e., for medical and paramedical graduates) in the Polish army. 6:55: Dr. Fenigstein was mobilized to serve in a military hospital when Germans attacked Poland on 1 September 1939. 7:12: Dr. Fenigstein describes his experiences at the outbreak of the war. 8:00: Dr. Fenigstein was wounded on 25 September 1939. He remained hospitalized as a wounded prisoner of war until April 1940. 8:41: Following his discharge, Dr. Fenigstein started to work in the Department of Pathology at the Jewish Hospital in Warsaw. Dr. Fenigstein explains how the hospital functioned. Over time (i.e., by 1941/42 until liquidation in April 1943), the hospital was fully staffed by Jews, and all the patients were Jews under supervision of German military officers. 10:52: Dr. Fenigstein published a book in Yiddish in 1948, “The History of the Jewish Hospital in Ghetto Warsaw.” Copies are available in Yad Vashem. 11:44: Dr. Fenigstein describes the restrictions placed on activities of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. 12:43: Dr. Fenigstein explains his role in the hospital. He was the head of the Department of Pathology until the first liquidation in the summer of 1942. The chief of the hospital was Dr. Josef Stein. Dr. Fenigstein did teaching and research. Some of his work was published in a book, “The Hunger Disease,” a collection of research papers that were hidden during the war. 14:30: Dr. Fenigstein recounts the events that led up to the first liquidation in the summer of 1942. He mentions that, although they were told that the transports were evacuation from the ghetto, there evidence that came to light to support that the transports led to liquidation. 17:03: Dr. Fenigstein explains that, despite hearing stories about liquidation at the time, he did not want to believe the reports could be true. 18:53: Dr. Fenigstein describes the evolvement of the underground clandestine Jewish resistance. The group was able to resist attempts by the Germans to liquidate the ghetto in January 1943 and on 19 April 1943. 21:05: Dr. Fenigstein gives an account of the Jewish population in Warsaw at the outbreak of the war, at the peak of the Warsaw Ghetto, and after the first two liquidations. He suggests that, of those remaining in the ghetto, several hundred put up a brave, strong resistance against the Germans in April 1943. 24:40: Dr. Fenigstein describes his work in the hospital after the second liquidation. Additionally, he worked in conjunction with the underground military force by stockpiling medical supplies in order to look after the wounded. 26:20: Dr. Fenigstein relates what happened to him after the April 1943 liquidation. He was transported first from Warsaw to Budzyn, a camp near Lublin, and later to another camp, where he worked from 30 April 1943 to 23 May 1944. Side 2 00:43: Dr. Fenigstein continues to recount his personal history. He was transported to a camp in Radom on 25 May 1944, where he worked in a factory building small weapons. Moved by foot 29 July 1944 to a moved-in freight cars arrived 5 August 1944 in Auschwitz. The women and weak were removed from the group. The remainder got back on freight cars. Arrived in a camp in Vaihiengen 9 August 1944. 4:43: Dr. Fenigstein describes the harsh conditions of the camp in Vaihiengen. 6:28: Dr. Fenigstein was selected to be a physician on a transport on 14 October 1944. He became the chief physician at Hessental near Schwabish Hall. 8:30: Dr. Fenigstein describes an outbreak of a typhus epidemic. 10:20: Left Camp Hessental on 5 April 1945 by foot and horse-drawn wagon. Arrived on 11 Aplril 1945 in Allach, near Dachau. 25 April 1945 shipped in open freight cars. Liberated by the Americans on 30 April 1945. 13:23: Dr. Fenigstein recounts that one of the Americans approached them speaking Yiddish. 13:52: Dr. Fenigstein explains that he was able to maintain good relationships with some SS officers due to the fact that he was a physician with some military training who spoke German. As a result, he was allowed to keep a few personal belongings (e.g., a photo, pencil, paper) and have some special privileges. 16:00: Dr. Fenigstein’s first wife was killed by Nazis in Majdanek in November 1943. 16:35: Dr. Josef Stein was killed during the final liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto. 18:05: Adam Czerniakow, head of the Jewish council in the Warsaw Ghetto, committed suicide when he found out that the German were going to liquidate the Jewish population. 18:53: Dr. Fenigstein was thirty years old in 1943. 19:15: Dr. Fenigstein attributes his survival to good luck. He provides some examples. 21:50: Dr. Fenigstein recounts a few examples of how he was able to send messages to his sister amd wife with the help of a few sympathetic Poles. 25:05: Dr. Fenigstein discusses the time of liberation and immediately following liberation. The liberated inmates were transported to SS barracks initially and later sent to stay in SS garrisons in Munich. Then were placed in DP camps. Dr. Fenigstein worked as a physician for UNRA. Worked at the University of Munich. Married his second wife in Munich. Came to Canada in September 1948.
Source
Oral Histories