Copy - יומנו של שלמה פרל

Interactive diary

Shlomo Perel

Story of

The testimony video, "'Because You Must Live' - The Story of Shlomo (Solly) Perel" depicts Shlomo's experiences during the Holocaust period, living under an assumed identity as a German boy, at one point even being sent to a Hitler Youth boarding school. The following is a suggestion for discussion and dialogue concerning identity, as it arises in Shlomo's testimony.

> Full movie

Journey map

6. Liberation

5. Hitler Youth boarding school

4. The German conquest

3. Separation from parents

2. Move to Lodz, Poland

1. Childhood in Peine

Table of Contents

Shlomo in the company of his neighborhood freinds

What challenges did he face?

What groups does Shlomo relate to in describing his identity as a child?

Shlomo Perel was born in 1925 in Peine, Germany, to Polish-born parents. In the next segment Shlomo talks about his childhood in Peine.

1. childhood in Peine

Shlomo in seventh grade, Lodz

How did Shlomo cope with his new surrounding?

After the Nazi rise to power, Shlomo's family moved to Lodz, Poland, due to the difficult situation of German Jewry. In this segment, Shlomo talks about the move to Poland and the adjustments involved:

2. move to Lodz, Poland

What messages did Shlomo's parents leave with him as they separated? What did each parent emphasize?

Shlomo's parents

After the German orders to move into the ghetto, Shlomo's parents sent him and his brother Yitzhak eastwards, hoping this would save their lives. In the next segment, Shlomo describes the moments of separation from his parents:

3. separation from parents

Shlomo as a soldier in the German army

How did Shlomo decide between the messages his parents left him?

After the German conquest, Shlomo's parents decided to send him and his brother eastward - to arreas annexed by the Soviet Union. Shlomo was taken in at a children's home in Grodno and during the 1941 German invasion, tried to escape. In the next segment he describes his capture by the Germans:

4. the German conquest

Hitler Youth boarding school

What does Shlomo take with him from each of the identities he lived during his time in the Hitler Youth boarding school?

What inner struggle took place in Shlomo?

After posing as an ethnic German, under the name Josef (Jupp) Perjell, the German soldiers took him on as an interpreter. Later, due to his young age, he was sent to a Hitler Youth boarding school in Germany.

5. Hitler Youth boarding school

Towards the end of the war, Shlomo was drafted into the German army as a soldier, and was captured by the Americans, being released some days later. In the following segment he talks about the first days after liberation in a prisoners of war camp:

How does the older Shlomo relate to the character of "Jupp"?

Shlomo in Germany, after the war

What do you think were the feelings that awoke in Shlomo, upon meeting Manfred Fraenkel?

6. liberation

View the entire testimony video:

Peine, Germany - Born Lodz, Poland - The family moves there following the rise of the Nazis Grodno, USSR - Soviet Orphanage Eastern Front - Smolensk area - Joins the 12th Division in the Wehrmacht as an interpreter Braunschweig, Germany - The Hitler Youth Boarding School

Grodno,Soviet Union

Info:

Braunschweig,Germany

Smolensk,Soviet Union

Lodz,Poland

Peine, Germany

Map of Shlomo's wanderings during the war years:

Yad Vashem Website

More information