Salomon Birenbaum was born in 1926 in Radom as the first child of Sara and Mordechai. He had two brothers: Dawid died in Auschwitz, the second was born after the war in Sweden. Their parents were non-religious, with leftist views; both survived the war. After the outbreak of the war, Salomon Birenbaum fled with his father to Russia, but returned to Radom, to his mother and brother, and his father was sentenced to a stay in the gulag for trying to cross the border. In Radom, Salomon Birenbaum initially worked in a dentist's office, then in a uniform repair shop. He was deported with his mother and brother to a labor camp near Radom, then transported to Auschwitz. The next camps he stayed in were Oranienburg, Sachsenhausen, Ohrdruf, Sachsenhausen again, Neustadtin, Sachsenhausen again, Ravensbrück and Werbellin. On May 1, 1945, he escaped with a friend from the last camp in Germany, the day before its liberation. After the war, he lived in an orphanage in Zatrzewie, where his mother worked. Then he left with his parents, first for Sweden, where his brother was born, and from there to the USA, where their extended family lived. He served in the American army, worked as an engineer; he lives in the USA to this day, and has two daughters. INTERVIEWEE'S NAME: Salomon Birenbaum INTERVIEWED BY: Julia Popławska RECORDING: Joanna Król-Komła DATE OF RECORDING: May 14, 2014 COPYRIGHT TO THE RECORDING: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews 00:00:20 - Information about the interviewee's family. 00:06:52 - Beginning of World War II. 00:10:41 - Realization of the danger; escape and return to Radom. 00:16:03 - Work in a dentist's office; the interlocutor's mother worked repairing uniforms 00:19:15 - Employment of the interlocutor and his brother in the same plant. Stay in a labor camp near Radom. 00:28:19 - Short stay in Auschwitz-Birkenau; transfer to Oranienburg and Sachsenhausen, then to Buchenwald. 00:32:16 - No conversations about war experiences. 00:33:49 - Escape from the camp; first days after liberation. 00:37:77 - Memories of Auschwitz: extermination of the Roma, the uprising, transport of Jews from Hungary and Rhodes. 00:40:03 - Memories of the first days after liberation. 00:41:25 - Return to Radom after the war; departure for Falenica. 00:44:11 - Meeting with Blum; arrival in Warsaw and meeting with his mother. English: 00:45:53 - Stay in an orphanage in Zatrzewie after the war. 00:47:32 - Departure with parents to Sweden, then to the USA; service in the American army and work. 00:50:23 - Arrival in the USA. 00:55:24 - Reflection on Jewish identity; acquaintance with Marek Schneiderman. 00:58:20 - No experiences of anti-Semitism on the part of Poles. 00:59:45 - Meeting of the interlocutor's friend with a Home Army soldier; attempt to obtain photos of the interlocutor's friend's family after the war. 01:03:15 - Reflection on prejudice and helping Jews. 01:06:18 - Proposal to hide the interlocutor's brother, Dawid, at the beginning of the war. 01:07:20 - No consideration of leaving for Israel. 01:08:21 - Surviving members of the interlocutor's family. 01:09:53 - Camps where the interviewee was held. 01:14:49 - Transformations of the interviewee's name. 01:17:30 - Photos from the interviewee's archive. Discover the POLIN Museum's oral history collection: https://sztetl.org.pl/pl/historia-mow... Subscribe to our channel: / @historiamowionapolin Watch the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews channels: POLIN (announcements and reports from events at the Museum): / mhzp2013 Virtual Shtetl (history and culture of Polish Jews): / wirtualneshtetl Polish Righteous (stories of help provided to Jews during the Holocaust): / polscysprawiedliwi Contact regarding the interview: [email protected] #PolinMuseum #SpokenHistory #holocaustsurvivor