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Peter Elmer was born in Vienna as Peter Epstein in 1923 and grew up in Vienna’s 13th district, where he went to primary school. At the end of 1937 he was sent to a boarding school in England and stayed there until his family emigrated at the end of 1938. They then fled to the USA via Switzerland and London, arriving in New York in January 1939. Elmer visited a private school and then the University of Wisconsin for a short time before military service with the US Army in Europe. He was later active in the textile industry in New York City where he continues to live today.

Edith Dreyfuss was born Edith Zinner in Vienna in 1930. After the November Pogrom (“Kristallnacht”) her father was sent to a forced labour camp; Dreyfuss and her mother were evicted from their apartment and forced into a group apartment. In 1941, the family was deported to the Riga Ghetto, where her father was murdered. Dreyfuss and her mother were sent to the Riga-Kaiserwald Concentration Camp and were forced labourers. During a march to Poland in 1944 they were liberated by the Red Army. Dreyfuss returned to Vienna, but later emigrated to the US in 1947. At the time of her interview, she lived in New Jersey.

Baruch Milrom was born in 1921 in Baden bei Wien where his parents ran a grocery shop. After the 'Anschluss', the shop was looted by SA men and the family had to leave Baden shortly after. He was able to flee to Palestine with the help of a Zionist youth organisation. His brother was also able to escape, but his parents were murdered in the Shoah. In Israel he worked for an international shipping company, amongst others. At the time of the interview he lived in Haifa. 

Trude Goldblatt was born in Vienna in 1927 as Trude Deutsch and lived in Vienna’s 7th district. After the November Pogrom (“Kristallnacht”) in 1938 her family had to move into a "Sammelwohnung". Together with her twin brother, Goldblatt was able to flee to Great Britain on a Kindertransport in 1939. There she lived with a Christian family and trained to be a nurse. While visiting her sister in Israel she decided to stay there. She started a family and worked as a midwife and a librarian. At the time of her interview Goldblatt was living in Tel Aviv. 

Alisa Tennenbaum was born Liselotte Scherzer in Vienna in 1929 and grew up in Vienna’s 20th district. Following the “Anschluss” in 1938 she had to leave school and her father was arrested and imprisoned in Dachau Concentration Camp. After his release, he was able to flee to Great Britain and Tennenbaum followed him on a Kindertransport in August 1939. She lived in a children’s hostel in Windermere before joining her father in Glasgow in 1945. Her mother stayed in Vienna and survived several camps. In 1949 the family emigrated to Israel. At the time of her interview, Tennenbaum lived in Beit Herut. 

Mordechai Sella was born Viktor Kopfstein in Vienna in 1933. He grew up in Pilgersdorf in Burgenland, where his family ran a shop. After the ‘Anschluss’ in 1938, they had to move to Vienna, where the father was arrested during the November Pogrom and deported to Dachau. In 1940, the family managed to flee on a ship and land illegally in Palestine. Upon arrival, they were sent by the British authorities to Mauritius, where they were interned until the end of the war. In 1945, they emigrated to Palestine, where Sella was initially placed in a children’s home. He later lived in a kibbutz. At the time of his interview, he was living in Jerusalem.

Herbert Blankstein was born in Vienna in 1925 and grew up in the 9th district. In December 1938 he fled with his mother to Brussels. His stepfather was deported to Southern France in 1941 and later to Auschwitz. In Belgium, Blankstein worked in the armaments industry and was protected from deportation due to his knowledge of German. Blankstein married in Brussels and emigrated to Palestine in 1948 together with his mother, wife and son. He worked as a goldsmith. Blankstein lived in Tel Aviv at the time of his interview.

John Fischer was born as Hans Fischer in 1909 in Vienna, where he lived in the 20th district and worked in a metalware factory. He was arrested during a visit to the dentist and imprisoned in the Rossauer Barracks, the Gestapo jail on Karajangasse and then in the Landesgericht. After his release he fled with his wife first to France and from there to the USA in February 1940. After his military service he worked as a salesman. At the time of the interview, Fischer lived in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

Yitzak Rosner was born Jacques Rosner in 1926 in Romanian Moldoviţa in Bukovina, which was formally part of the Habsburg monarchy, and grew up in a German-speaking family. After the outbreak of World War Two, the Rosner family had to leave Moldoviţa, later they were deported to the Sharhorod Ghetto where they were interned until 1944. After being liberated by the Red Army, Rosner worked for them as a translator in Bucharest. After many failed attempts, Rosner was able to emigrate to Israel via Vienna in 1968, where he was living at the time of the interview.

Trudy Jeremias was born Trude Epstein in 1925 and grew up and went to school in Vienna’s 13th district. She emigrated to the USA with her parents and her brother Peter in December 1938 via Switzerland and London. After working as a ground stewardess and in several other jobs, Jeremias became a jewelry designer like her mother, who was a well-known interior designer and artist. She returned to Vienna for a short period in the late 1950s before returning to New York, where she lives today. 

Georg Berlstein was born in Vienna in 1929 and grew up in the 4th district. He left in March 1939 on one of the Kindertransports to Great Britain. His mother followed him to England and his father was initially interned on the Isle of Man. At the end of 1940 the family succeeded in emigrating to the USA, where Berlstein continued his education and studied at Yale University. After completing three years of service in the U.S. Air Force, including a tour in Korea, he worked as an attorney. At the time of his interview Berlstein lived in New York.

Otto Nagler was born in Vienna in 1920 and lived with his family in the 20th district. He attended elementary school there and - during the period of the Anschluss - high school. He was able to flee to Palestine in 1939 due to his membership in a zionist youth organization. His parents were able to escape to Italy, where they lived during the war. After Nagler finished his studies at the Technion in Haifa and completed his military service he went on to work in the field of irrigation and as a development aid worker, in both Israel and throughout the world. He now lives in Israel again.

Emanuel Fuchs was born in 1918 in Vienna and lived with his family in the 2nd district, where he went to school and his father owned a bookbinders. After the Anschluss, Fuchs was imprisoned and was brought to the “Notarrest” (temporary jail) in Kenyongasse. He was later sent to Dachau Concentration Camp, where he was imprisoned for several weeks until he returned to Vienna and was forced to leave the country. Fuchs was able to emigrate with a friend to the USA via Germany, Amsterdam and Belgium. After serving in the US Army, Fuchs settled in New York and worked as a jeweler.

Gertud Kissiloff was born Gertrud Nachtigall in 1923 in Vienna and grew up in the 2nd district. After her father’s arrest following the “Anschluss”, Kissiloff went to the Gestapo and was able to secure his release. Kissiloff and her brother escaped to Scotland with the Kindertransport in March 1939, followed some months later by their parents. In October 1940, the family emigrated to the USA. Kissiloff studied at the Cooper Union and worked after graduation as a graphic designer. At the time of her interview, she lived in New York.

Joan Frome was born in Vienna in 1923 as Johanna Schwarz, where she lived with her family in the 7th district. After the Anschluss, she left high school after being beaten up by a fellow pupil. In September 1939, Frome fled unaccompanied to the USA via Belgium. Her father - a veteran of World War One - died in 1939 as a result of the injuries he sustained during the war, her mother was murdered in Auschwitz. At the time of the interview, Frome was living in New York.

Robert Perels was born in Vienna in 1937. In 1939, he and his mother fled from Vienna. They got as far as Marseille. Mother and son were interned in various camps before being deported to Auschwitz by train in 1942. During a layover, his mother threw him out of the train. Perels hid in French woods together with a fourteen-year-old girl until they arrived at a monastery. Perels subsequently lived with a family of farmers before managing to flee to Switzerland in 1944 with the help of a Jewish children’s aid organisation. He was adopted there and lived in Zurich. In 1947, he emigrated to Palestine, where he lived with his aunt. At the time of his interview, Perels lived in Israel.

Peter B. Neubauer was born in Krems an der Donau in 1913. In his youth, he was active in both socialist and Zionist youth movements. Neubauer began studying medicine at Vienna University, but emigrated to Switzerland after the February Uprising in 1934 where he completed his studies at the University of Bern. He worked as an assistant physician in Switzerland before emigrating in 1941 via France, Spain, and Portugal to the USA. Neubauer became an internationally established psychiatrist and university professor. At the time of his interview, he was living in New York City.

Lea Peled was born in Vienna in 1924 and grew up in the 3rd district. After the “Anschluss” in 1938, Peled stayed in Vienna with her ill mother, while her father and brother fled abroad. After her mother’s death, Peled was able to reach Denmark in Autumn 1939 with the help of the Youth Aliyah, In March 1941, Peled emigrated via Scandinavia and the USSR to Palestine. She lived in the Kibbutz Ben Schemen, Peled was a graphic designer and lived in Ramat HaScharon at the time of her interview.

Micha Shagrir was born in Linz in 1937 as Michael Schwager. His father had already emigrated to Palestine in 1921, where he met Shagrir’s mother. They returned to Linz in 1932. Immediately after the “Anschluss” the family emigrated to Palestine, where they lived in the Kibbutz Chefziba and then in Tel Aviv. Shagrir worked as a journalist and for the radio. Later he became a film producer and director, filming a documentary film – amongst many other things – about the Bischofstrasse in Linz, the street where his family had lived. At the time of his interview, he lived in Israel.