Tova Friedman: Surviving Auschwitz | THE THREAD Documentary Series

Tova Friedman is one the few remaining living witnesses to the horrors of the Holocaust. In this episode of The Thread, she recounts a childhood of unimaginable brutality and terror, marked by starvation labor camps and the crematoriums of Auschwitz. She shares the challenges her family faced as survivors in postwar America emphasizing the importance of storytelling to ensure her children and grandchildren – and all children – carry on a legacy of remembrance and resilience.

Tova Friedman was born on September 7, 1938 in Gdynia, Poland, a suburb of Danzig. Her family came from Tomaszów Mazowiecki, a small town near Lodz, Poland, and returned there as soon as the war broke out. Friedman is among the youngest possible to survive the Nazi Holocaust, and one of the few Jewish children to have lived through the nightmare ordeals of Auschwitz, She was one of 5,000 Jewish children living in Tomaszow Mazowiecki before World War II, and at the end of the war, one of only five children from that town that survived. More than 150 members of Friedman’s family were murdered. After spending several years in a German sanatorium for tuberculosis and DP camps, Friedman and her parents arrived in the US when she was 12 years old. They lived in Brooklyn where she met and married her husband of 60 years, Maier Friedman (recently deceased). She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Brooklyn Coller and a Master of Arts in Black literature from City College of New York. Together they immigrated to Israel and lived there for over 10 years where she taught at the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. After returning to the US, she earned her Master of Arts in social work from Rutgers University and became the Director of Jewish Family Service of Somerset and Warren Counties for over 20 years. Friedman has 4 children and 8 grandchildren. Friedman continues to share her story with students and audiences at schools, colleges, and places of worship all over the country.

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Chapter Markers:
00:00 - Opening
00:41- Life before Concentration Camp
01:47 - Entering First Concentration Camp
02:40 - Entering Auschwitz
09:32 - Standard of Living in Auschwitz
12:45 - Enduring Starvation
14:47 - Close Calls
16:03 - Being Taken to the Crematorium
18:22 - Tova’s Mother Finds Her
26:02 - Importance of Storytelling
27:23 - Passing Down Stories and Lessons to Children
30:22 - The Importance of Family

Tova Friedman, Holocaust Survivor
Interviewed By: Noah Remnick
Interview Date: July 26, 2023

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