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Herman Haller
Herman Haller
Herman was born on July 6, 1924, in Berlin, Germany, to an observant Jewish family. He lived with his parents and younger brother, but his life took a turn when his parents divorced when he was six. Raised by his mother, he grew up surrounded by a large, caring family. His mother’s family owned a furniture business, and they lived behind one of the stores, which was always closed on the Jewish Sabbath.
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Herman had a difficult childhood and attended public school until 1933 when Jewish children were no longer allowed to attend due to rising anti-Semitic laws. His mother transferred him and his brother to a Jewish school, where they continued their education under increasingly oppressive circumstances.
On November 9, 1938, during Kristallnacht,
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Herman was at home with his mother when their store windows were shattered by mobs targeting Jewish businesses and homes.
His mother sent him by bike to check on his aunt and two cousins, but Herman encountered mobs on the streets and witnessed synagogues being attacked. The townspeople allowed the fires to burn.
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After that day, Jewish people were no longer permitted to work. Herman’s aunt managed to secure a work permit to go to England, while his uncle obtained a visa to the United States. They devised a plan for Herman, his brother, and their mother to escape to Belgium.
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His mother purchased a round-trip train ticket to Paris and convinced border officials they were visiting a relative. At ages 14 and 12, Herman and his brother successfully crossed into Belgium, where their uncle picked them up. At ages 14 and 12, Herman and his brother successfully crossed into Belgium, where their uncle picked them up.
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In Belgium, they lived in a rooming house while waiting for their mother, who attempted to cross the border later but was caught and sent back to Germany. Eventually, a relative in France, a French citizen, took in Herman and his brother, posing as their father. After two months, they returned to Belgium, where a family, paid to take in refugees, sheltered them. Their mother managed to obtain a work visa to go to England.
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In 1940, the Nazis invaded Belgium, forcing Herman and his brother into hiding. They took refuge in an attic and ate at a soup kitchen, but the family they stayed with eventually threw them out when funding for refugees ceased. Herman found a job in a bakery, where he kept the ovens going all night and slept on a bench. The owners provided him with food.
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Herman was eventually captured and sent to France with 300 young men to build the Atlantic Wall, intended to keep the English out. He contracted typhus and was hospitalized in a basement. After recovering, he was sent back to Belgium, where Jews were being rounded up and sent to concentration camps. Herman, along with 983 other people, was put on a train to Auschwitz. Only 54 men survived the journey.
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At Auschwitz, Herman was tattooed, shaved, and put to work building a munitions factory. He dug ditches, mixed cement, and eventually learned to be a bricklayer, which provided the advantage of working indoors. However, when he was sent out as a bricklayer, he found that Polish men were already hired for the job, so he was relegated to mixing cement and passing bricks.
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Herman befriended a group called "Canada," whose members sorted clothes from the belongings of those who perished. His friend smuggled out clothes, which Herman traded with the Polish for food, but his friend was eventually caught and killed.
As the war progressed, the factory they were building was bombed by the Russians, and Herman was selected to work as a mechanic to repair the damaged equipment.
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He learned some basics and claimed to have been an apprentice mechanic, securing a spot indoors. Despite the grueling work, he managed to get extra food by trading with others, though such schemes were often dangerous.
In January 1945, as the Allies advanced, Herman and 60,000 others were forced on a Death March deeper into Germany. They were later crammed into open cattle cars to Gros-Rosen and then Buchenwald.
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Without food or water, they ate snow to survive. Out of the 110 in Herman's rail car, only seven survived the journey.
Herman suffered severe frostbite, losing his toes, and was carried off the train on a stretcher. He was given soup once a day, but they were deemed too sick to waste bread on. After about four weeks, the American Army liberated them, but Herman was so delirious he didn’t realize who they were.
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He was nursed back to health in a hospital.
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The End
Herman Haller interview at Boca Raton Community High School in the school year 2023-2024
Boca Raton Community High School
