United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Herman Woolf (1896-1969) was born Herman Wolf on 28 February 1896 in Buštino, Czechoslovakia (Bushtyno, Ukraine) to Julius Wolf and Susanna Brandstein. He married Catharina Roth (Kato, 1907-) and they had one son, John (1928-). The family lived in Buštino prior to the war. After the German occupation of Hungary, the family was interned in the Mateszalka ghetto. They were deported to Auschwitz and survived the initial selection, though Herman and John were separated from Kato. Herman and John were sent to forced labor working in the camp laundry. At one point, Herman was sent to the infirmary with typhus and skin boils. In January 1945, Herman and John were sent on a forced march to Oranienburg, where Herman was again sent to the camp hospital with typhus and an injured hand. Herman and John were separated, and Herman was marched to Sachsenhausen. After being marched out of Sachsenhausen, he was liberated by the Red Army. After a month, he learned that Kato and John had both survived and were in Bucharest. The family reunited, but Herman was still ill and was hospitalized in a sanatorium in Liberec, Czechoslovakia (Liberec, Czech Republic). After he recovered, the family immigrated to the United States with the assistance of Kato's brother, Ernest Rockey, who lived in America. The family later changed their last name to Woolf.
Copyright Holder: Mr. John Woolf
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The Herman Wolf memoir is arranged in a single series.
Consists of a handwritten memoir in Hungarian authored by Herman Wolf (later Herman Woolf), originally of Buštino, Czechoslovakia (Bushtyno, Ukraine). The memoir discusses the occupation of Hungary, Herman’s experiences in Auschwitz-Birkenau and Oranienburg with his son John, their separation, and his liberation from Sachsenhausen. The memoir was written around late 1945 or early 1946 while Herman was recovering in a sanatorium in Liberec, Czechoslovakia (Liberec, Czech Republic). Also included is a typed, English language translation prepared by Herman’s son John Woolf in 2013.
Herman Wolf memoir