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USF Libraries Exhibits

Herta and Salomon Pila

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Holocaust Survivors

Herta Pila was born in Munich in 1932. During the war, she and her mother remained in Munich until 1944 and moved from bunker to bunker, claiming that their identification had been destroyed in air raids so that no one could tell they were Jewish. Mrs. Pila spent eight months hidden on a farm owned by a German family until the war ended and her brother, who had been hiding in the mountains, tracked her down and brought her back to Munich, where she was reunited with her mother and sister. Salomon Pila was born in Miechow, Poland, in 1925. After the Nazis began deportations from his town in 1942, he was sent to several labor camps in Poland before ending up in Oskar Schindler's factory, along with his brother Izack. They were with Schindler for about a year, until 1944, when Izack fell asleep and was caught by the Nazi commander. Mr. Pila ended the war in Linz at a Mauthausen sub-camp, where he was liberated in 1945. After the war, Mr. and Mrs. Pila both spent time in displaced persons camps, he in Italy, she in Germany. They were introduced by Izack and got married in 1952. 

The USF Library Catalog

 

Video Clips

Growing up in Nazi Germany
Working for Oskar Schindler
The Liberation of Linz
Immigration from Australia
Telling Herta's Story