Sally Biederman

"Never forget about the Holocaust. Care for Israel. Never forget what happened."

Name at birth

Salomea Lipschutz

Date of birth

01/01/1925

Where were you born?

Cracow, Poland

Where did you grow up?

Cracow, Poland

Name of father, occupation

Edward, Factory owner

Maiden name of mother, occupation

Felicia Buchfinder, Homemaker

Immediate family (names, birth order)

Parents, me, sister Raynia, brother Moishe

How many in entire extended family?

Large extended family

Who survived the Holocaust?

My mother and me

My whole family was in the ghetto; my mother and me were sent to Auschwitz together. After the war, we went back to Poland to look for the family, but we didn’t find anybody. My mother was very sick and died at the Bindermichel Displaced Persons’ (DP) Camp. I got married to Harry Biederman. We didn’t want to stay in Poland. My mother had a sister in New York and we left for America. My relatives were very poor and elderly. I went to HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) for help so that we could make a living. They offered us to go to either Detroit or Providence, RI. We didn’t know what to say, so they said Detroit.

Name of Ghetto(s)

Cracow (Krakow)

Name of Concentration / Labor Camp(s)

Auschwitz Birkenau / Bergen Belsen / Krakow Plaszow / Theresienstadt

Occupation after the war

Bookkeeper, president of Einstein Chapter of B'nai B'rith

Spouse

Harry Biederman, Electrical contractor

Children

Eddie, uniform store owner, Mark, horse veterinarian

Grandchildren

Two

What do you think helped you to survive?

Luck and being together with my mother. It was no life. In the barracks, every morning we had to go to Appelplatz, where they counted us. We didn’t believe that we would survive. My mother helped me, she would give me some of her bread.

What message would you like to leave for future generations?

Never forget about the Holocaust. Care for Israel. Never forget what happened.