Erna Fridman manuscript, "The Long Way Home"
Extent and Medium
folder
1
Creator(s)
- Erna E. Fridman
Biographical History
Erna Fridman was born Ester Shpegtner in 1929 in Kraków, Poland to Moshe (b. in Kraków) and Rachel Shpegtner (b. 1911 in Brzesko). Following the German invasion of Poland, she was excluded from school, taken to the German police for not wearing a Star of David patch even though she was only 10 years old, and helped clear snow in her father's place. Her family was forced into the Kraków ghetto where her father died in February 1942. Her younger sister Losha was deported in October 1942, and Erna and her mother were transferred to the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp in March 1943 and then to Auschwitz in October 1944. In January 1945, Erna and her mother were forced on a death march to Ravensbrück and Leipzig and were liberated in April 1945. They returned to Kraków. Erna married Henek Fridman after the war, and the couple immigrated to Israel in 1948.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ester Erna Shpegtner Fridman
Ester Erna Fridman donated this translation of her memoir to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on April 1, 2005.
Scope and Content
Erna Fridman’s manuscript "The Long Way Home" consists of an English translation prepared in 1995 of the original Polish memoir Erna composed following the Holocaust and her return home to Kraków in 1945. The translation is by her daughter, Pazit Gat, and also includes poems by Fridman and photocopies of family photographs and Fridman's visit to Kraków in 1993. Erna’s narrative describes her memories from before the war, the German occupation of Poland, and life in the Kraków ghetto. She describes the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, her impressions of Amon Göth, learning about Auschwitz from Hungarian prisoners, the May 1944 deportation of children to Auschwitz, and two friends who were included on Schindler's list. She describes her deportation to Auschwitz and the horrible conditions there, multiple death marches, including to Ravensbrück and Leipzig, and her return to Kraków with her mother following liberation. Fridman’s memoir was published in Polish and Hebrew.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Ms. Erna E. Fridman
Corporate Bodies
- Ravensbrück (Concentration camp)
- Płaszów (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Jews--Poland--Kraków--Biography.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust--Poland--Personal narratives.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Poland--Kraków--Personal narratives.
- Jewish ghettos--Poland--Kraków.
- Holocaust survivors--Israel--Biography.
Genre
- Personal narratives.
- Document