2022 First Person Series: Allan Firestone

In one day in January 1942, Allan Firestone’s father was taken by Nazis and Ukrainian auxiliaries, then his mother, his sister, and her husband, all presumably murdered in a nearby forest. Allan was left with three surviving sisters. He was eight years old.

Nazi Germany occupied Allan’s hometown of Kołomyja, in present-day Ukraine, in summer 1941. Jews were forced into a ghetto and two more of his sisters were taken and never seen again. With the help of a family friend, Allan and his last surviving sister evaded the roundups and hid in an attic and a wardrobe before being liberated by the Soviet Army.

After the war, Allan attended school in Poland but, fearing antisemitic attacks, he, his sister, and her new husband fled, eventually settling in the US. There, Allan would learn for the first time what it meant to be Jewish and also feel safe in a classroom. Join the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to learn about Allan's traumatic losses and miraculous survival.

Speaker
Allan Firestone, Holocaust Survivor and USHMM Volunteer

Moderator
Bill Benson, Journalist and Host, First Person: Conversations with Holocaust Survivors

Watch live at youtube.com/ushmm. You do not need a YouTube account to view USHMM's program. After the live broadcast, the recording will be available to watch on demand on USHMM's YouTube page.

First Person is a monthly hour-long discussion with a Holocaust survivor and is made possible through generous support from the Louis Franklin Smith Foundation, with additional funding from the Arlene and Daniel Fisher Foundation.