This cute Austrian kid, grew up, hid in France, & fought Nazis as an Italian partisan

THE ST. LOUIS KAPLAN HOLOCAUST MUSEUM, SPECIAL FOR THE JEWISH LIGHT
Published August 24, 2021

Since 1979, Vida “Sister” Goldman Prince has been Chairman of the Oral Histories Project, at the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum. The project is dedicated to recording and preserving audio interviews of not only Holocaust Survivors, but also liberators of Nazi concentration camps and other non-Jewish witnesses living in Europe during World War II.

The museum was one of the first to begin gathering oral history projects so these voices and photographs will be displayed and future generations will continue to be witnesses to this catastrophic period of world history. In partnership with the Jewish Light, The St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum is allowing us to republish a portion of these Oral Histories project as a celebration of life and a crucial part of honoring and remembering the past. Please follow the provided links to additional recordings.

A Brief Bio

Harry Burger, a commercial photographer, was born in Vienna, Austria on May 10, 1924. Before the war he attended middle school. He was in hiding in Nice, France from 1940-43. He was incarcerated as an Italian civilian prisoner of war camp in Sospel, France from January 1943 until May 1943.

Mr. Burger was a partisan in Italy from 1943 to May 1945. He was liberated May 8, 1945 in Cuneo, Italy. Of his immediate family, his mother and older sister also survived, while his father was killed in Auschwitz. Seven of his extended family members survived, including a cousin, Alfred, but 12 were killed.

Mr. Burger’s wife had family in St. Louis; they came here in April 1986. He is married to the former Marilyn Swett and has three children and two grandchildren.