Itel Landau

Meet Itel Landau (maiden family name: Brettler),
a Holocaust survivor originally from Vișeu de Sus (Felsővisó in
Hungarian, אויבערווישעווע in Yiddish), a shtetl in Transylvania
(prewar Romania, Hungary during WWII, now Romania), discussing
her life — before, during, and after the Holocaust. Itel was born
into a Hassidic family, the Brettlers, who sold manufacturing
materials. In 1940, Transylvania was taken over by Hungary. Among
other changes, her school days were ended. In the spring of 1944,
the Germans occupied Hungary, and soon after she and her family
were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. She, her mother, and two
sisters were among the few survivors from her large extended
family. After the war, she endured years of recovery from
Tuberculosis in a sanitarium in France. She eventually married
and moved to Bogota, Colombia, where she raised her family. After
her children began to attend Yeshivas in New York, she and her
family relocated there. She now lives in Manhattan.We reached
Itel for this interview by phone on June 6, 2024. For more
information, see also Itel's 1988 interview with the US Holocaust
Memorial Museum. Thanks to Reb Yisrael Brettler,
coproducer of this episode, who is also Itel's first cousin once
removed.


Music:


Intro instrumental music: DEM HELFANDS TANTS, an instrumental
track from the CD Jeff Warschauer: The Singing Waltz



Air Date: June 19, 2024