{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://fortunoff.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/dr2p55fv42/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Meir S."]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/005/original/Fortunoff-Logo.png?1549333634","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eMeir S. was born on February 24th, 1925 in Naszód (Năsăud), Romania. He was the fourth of ten children. Two half- siblings from his father's first marriage, whose mother had died during a flu epidemic, also lived with them, as well as his grandmother. Around 1933, the S.s moved to Bethlen in Transylvania. In 1940 this part of Romania came under Hungarian rule.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe family was religious: his father was a sofer, a scribe who writes Torah scrolls. The older brothers left the house in order to attend yeshivot (Jewish educational institutions) in distant cities. For Meir too, public school was of secondary importance. He was taught in the religious schools of his native town, and then began to work for his school fees and to support himself in order to finance the attendance of a yeshiva himself. Although the family appears to have been poor, Meir's parents' house is, in his memories, described as loving and the family connections intimate.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1938 Meir left his family to study in Vàc, Hungary. He received a monthly stipend from a patron and earned his living by repairing books. From 1941 to 1942, he lived Budapest and continued his studies. At the same time, he endeavored to get an apprenticeship and learn about the weaving trade, and eventually he specialized in Jacquard weaving. He soon earned enough to be able to afford to rent his own room. When his brother Ascer came to Budapest, he supported him until he himself had gained a foothold.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the Germans occupied Hungary in the spring of 1944, Meir fulfilled his wish to be with his family. Shortly after his return, the Jewish residents were asked to gather in a school building. From there they were transported with their few possessions to a ghetto in nearby Dèsh. The S. family spent two weeks in tents. Meir had to help remodel the local synagogue into a granary. Later, the S. family was deported to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. When the train was unloading, Meir was separated from the rest of the family. He saw none of his relatives on the ramp. After the war, it turned out that besides himself, only a brother and half-sister had survived the Holocaust.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Auschwitz, Meir was transported to a work camp at Thiel on the French border, where conditions for the prisoners were less threatening than Auschwitz. The prisoners had to flatten and smooth the tunnels in an iron ore mine so that underground workshops could be created. As the U.S. Army advanced, the prisoners from the forced labor camp were brought deeper into the German Reich. Meir worked in a salt mine in Heilbronn, which was intended to be converted into an underground production facility for Junker Flugzeug-Werke. The conditions in the camp were difficult and the work in the salty atmosphere increasingly effected his health. He wound up going in a ambulance to Allach, a sub-camp of Dachau Concentration Camp.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAfter liberation by the Americans, Meir was determined to emigrate to Palestine. He received the tip from British soldiers to try to emigrate illegally via Italy. By December 1945, Meir was already in Salerno and preparing in a Zionist training camp for a future life as a pioneer in Palestine. He was finally smuggled on a private yacht to Alexandria, Egypt, which he reached in April 1946. On the train journey to Jerusalem, he passed himself off as a British soldier on leave.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn Jerusalem, he first attended a yeshiva and in 1947 he moved to Tel Aviv, where he built a weaving mill. He also worked training newcomers and negotiated with the Jewish Agency to establish weaving as a profitable branch of industry. In addition to his passionate commitment to the newly-founded country, he also experienced the painful loss of his younger brother Nehemiah, who had survived the Holocaust only to be killed in the 1948 Palestine War, the struggle which led to Israel's independence.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1948 Meir S. married Zahava Szász, and the couple arrived in the United States in 1956. Meir found work in a knitting factory and finally founded his own company, which manufactures knitwear. He also began designing his own collections.\u003c/p\u003e (Abstract)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["https://archiv.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/interviews/za586"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2006-03-19 (Creation)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["S., Meir,   1925-02-24 (Interviewee)","Laub, Dori, 1937-06-08 - 2018-06-23"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["3 videotapes"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["https://archiv.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/interviews/za586"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["video tapes (topical)","Forced labor (topical)","Oral histories (document) (genre_form)","Dej Ghetto (Person or Corporate Body)","Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp (Person or Corporate Body)","Longwy Sub-Concentration Camp (Person or Corporate Body)","Neckargartach (Steinbock) Sub-Concentration Camp (Person or Corporate Body)","Dachau Concentration Camp (Person or Corporate Body)","Karlsfeld Sub-Concentration Camp (Person or Corporate Body)","Munich Anti-Aircraft Gunners’ Barracks DP Camp (Person or Corporate Body)","Bologna DP Camp (Person or Corporate Body)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["New Haven, Conn. (Place of Recording)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English (primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Relation"]},"value":{"en":["Meir S,. Interview za586. Interview Archive „Forced Labor 1939-1945“. Access at https://archiv.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en/interviews/za586 (conforms to)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Identifier"]},"value":{"en":["za586 (Source Identifier)"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eMeir S. was born on February 24th, 1925 in Nasz\u0026oacute;d (Năsăud), Romania. He was the fourth of ten children. Two half- siblings from his father's first marriage, whose mother had died during a flu epidemic, also lived with them, as well as his grandmother. Around 1933, the S.s moved to Bethlen in Transylvania. In 1940 this part of Romania came under Hungarian rule.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eThe family was religious: his father was a sofer, a scribe who writes Torah scrolls. The older brothers left the house in order to attend yeshivot (Jewish educational institutions) in distant cities. For Meir too, public school was of secondary importance. He was taught in the religious schools of his native town, and then began to work for his school fees and to support himself in order to finance the attendance of a yeshiva himself. Although the family appears to have been poor, Meir's parents' house is, in his memories, described as loving and the family connections intimate.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1938 Meir left his family to study in V\u0026agrave;c, Hungary. He received a monthly stipend from a patron and earned his living by repairing books. From 1941 to 1942, he lived Budapest and continued his studies. At the same time, he endeavored to get an apprenticeship and learn about the weaving trade, and eventually he specialized in Jacquard weaving. He soon earned enough to be able to afford to rent his own room. When his brother Ascer came to Budapest, he supported him until he himself had gained a foothold.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the Germans occupied Hungary in the spring of 1944, Meir fulfilled his wish to be with his family. Shortly after his return, the Jewish residents were asked to gather in a school building. From there they were transported with their few possessions to a ghetto in nearby D\u0026egrave;sh. The S. family spent two weeks in tents. Meir had to help remodel the local synagogue into a granary. Later, the S. family was deported to Auschwitz Concentration Camp. When the train was unloading, Meir was separated from the rest of the family. He saw none of his relatives on the ramp. After the war, it turned out that besides himself, only a brother and half-sister had survived the Holocaust.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Auschwitz, Meir was transported to a work camp at Thiel on the French border, where conditions for the prisoners were less threatening than Auschwitz. The prisoners had to flatten and smooth the tunnels in an iron ore mine so that underground workshops could be created. As the U.S. Army advanced, the prisoners from the forced labor camp were brought deeper into the German Reich. Meir worked in a salt mine in Heilbronn, which was intended to be converted into an underground production facility for Junker Flugzeug-Werke. The conditions in the camp were difficult and the work in the salty atmosphere increasingly effected his health. He wound up going in a ambulance to Allach, a sub-camp of Dachau Concentration Camp.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eAfter liberation by the Americans, Meir was determined to emigrate to Palestine. He received the tip from British soldiers to try to emigrate illegally via Italy. By December 1945, Meir was already in Salerno and preparing in a Zionist training camp for a future life as a pioneer in Palestine. He was finally smuggled on a private yacht to Alexandria, Egypt, which he reached in April 1946. On the train journey to Jerusalem, he passed himself off as a British soldier on leave.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn Jerusalem, he first attended a yeshiva and in 1947 he moved to Tel Aviv, where he built a weaving mill. He also worked training newcomers and negotiated with the Jewish Agency to establish weaving as a profitable branch of industry. In addition to his passionate commitment to the newly-founded country, he also experienced the painful loss of his younger brother Nehemiah, who had survived the Holocaust only to be killed in the 1948 Palestine War, the struggle which led to Israel's independence.\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1948 Meir S. married Zahava Sz\u0026aacute;sz, and the couple arrived in the United States in 1956. Meir found work in a knitting factory and finally founded his own company, which manufactures knitwear. 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