Centropa Stories

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  • 5.0 (7)
  • HISTORY

Jewish Witness to a European Century

  1. 07/10/2025

    S13E7 Judit Kinszki

    Judit Kinszki was born in Budapest in 1927. In 1944 her brother Gabor was sent to a concentration camp, her father was herded onto a death march. Judit and her mother spent nearly five months in the infamous Budapest Ghetto and the day they were liberated by the Soviet Army, they went to the train station every day, hoping to find Judit’s brother and father.  Judit’s story is read for us by Jeni Barnet and Judit was interviewed for Centropa by Dora Sardi in 2005.

    9 min

  2. 07/10/2025

    S13E10 Zsuzsa Diamantstein

    Zsuzsa Diamantstein grew up in a middle class home in Targu Mures, Romania. Northern Transylvania was ceded to Hungary in 1940 and it was the Hungarian army that deported over 150,000 Jews to Auschwitz and other death camps. Zsuzsa managed to survive but found she had nothing in common with young people who had not gone through hell. Then she met Imre Diamantstein, who had just returned from the camps.  Sara Kestelman reads Zsuzsa’s story for us and it is based on the interview conducted in 2005 in Targu Mures by Julia Negrea and Vera Badic.

    10 min

  3. 07/10/2025

    S13E9 Roza Kamhi

    Roza Kamhi came from the town of Bitola in what is now North Macedonia. She and her boyfriend Beno Ruso joined the partisans when the Bulgarians occupied their region in 1941. Roza was jailed in 1943, Beno took to the hills. On the day of liberation, Roza saw Beno running up the street to embrace her. But why, she wondered, was 24-year-old Beno wearing the uniform of a general? Roza Kamhi was interviewed for Centropa by Rachel Chanin in Skopje in 2005. Her story is read for us by Shelly Blonde.

    6 min

  4. 07/10/2025

    S13E5 Leo Luster

    Leo Luster grew up in Vienna speaking German and Yiddish. He and his parents were deported to Terezin in 1942. While his mother remained there, Leo and his father were sent on to Auschwitz, then a series of work camps. One morning Leo saw that the German guards had fled. He stepped outside to see a Soviet soldier pointing a rifle at him. Leo blurted out, in Yiddish, “I’m a Jew!” The soldier lowered his rifle and replied in Yiddish, “So am I.” The actor Steve Furst read’s Leo’s story for us. Leo was interviewed in Tel Aviv and Vienna by Tanja Eckstein in 2010.

    9 min

  5. 07/10/2025

    S13E8 Lisa Lukinskaya

    Lisa Lukinskaya was born in a Lithuanian shtetl and survived the war when nuns in a nearby convent took her in. At war’s end she went home to find that her 23-year-old husband had been killed but at least the rest of her family had survived. Lisa tells us of starting over when the family moved to Vilnius and that’s where she met a dashing Soviet officer. Lisa Lukinskaya’s story was read for us by Tina Grey in London. Lisa was interviewed in Vilnius in 2005 by Zhanna Litinskaya.

    6 min

  6. 07/10/2025

    S13E6 Irena Wojdyslawska

    Psychiatrist Irena Wojdyslawska was 83-years old when Marek Czekalski came to her apartment in Lodz in 2004. Irena tells the harrowing tale of being deported from the Lodz Ghetto to Auschwitz, and then what it was like being liberated after losing just about everyone. Irena Wojdyslawska’s story is read for us by Jilly Bond in London.

    10 min

  7. 07/10/2025

    S13E4 Arnold Fabrikant

    Arnold Fabrikant came from Odesa, where both his parents were doctors. Arnold’s father Yefim and his unit tried to hold off the Germans when they surrounded Kyiv. Yefim killed himself rather than fall into German hands. Arnold, then 20 years old, spent the next four years on the front and ended the war shooting his way into Berlin. David Horovitch reads Arnold’s story, which is based on an interview conducted in Odesa by Natalia Rezanova in 2004.

    7 min

  8. 07/10/2025

    S13E03 Eva R.

    Eva R. was born in 1919 in a village not far from Dnipro. She studied medicine and found herself drafted into the Soviet Army in 1941. Eva served at Stalingrad and by 1945 she had been promoted to the rank of major. She ended the war in Berlin walking through Adolf Hitler’s chancellery. Jane Bertish in London reads Eva’s story, which is based on an interview conducted by Ella Levitskaya in 2004.

    6 min
See All (68)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Jewish Witness to a European Century

Information

  • Creator
    Centropa
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2025
  • Episodes
    68
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Centropa
  • Show Website
    Centropa Stories