Fred Schoenfeld

Prepared by the Witnesses of War team

Alfred “Fred” Schoenfeld was born in 1936 in Košice, Czechoslovakia, and spent his early childhood in Prešov, in present-day Slovakia. As persecution intensified, Jewish families faced restrictions, exclusion and deportation. Fred remembered being made to sit at the back of his classroom and forbidden to mix with other children during breaks. His grandfather was deported to Auschwitz in 1942 and never returned.

His parents, Simcha and Ilonka, repeatedly sought ways to protect their family. During one roundup, his father instructed Fred to pretend to be ill in bed, then persuaded an officer that Ilonka needed to remain at home to care for him. In 1943, the family hid for seven weeks in a warehouse attic, remaining silent while people worked below. A trusted employee brought food and water, while his mother whispered stories to keep the young boy occupied.

In autumn 1944, they escaped into the Tatra Mountains. Partisans sometimes brought provisions, but hunger and the approaching fighting made survival increasingly difficult. Around forty people eventually crowded into a hunting lodge. In January 1945, Soviet and Czechoslovak soldiers reached them and later returned to escort them to safety under fire. Fred particularly remembered hearing a soldier speaking Yiddish and receiving a thick slice of bread, half of which he saved for later.

Fred and his parents survived the Holocaust and immigrated to the United States in 1948, settling in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1998, encouraged by his sons, he returned to Europe to revisit his childhood home. He later began sharing his experiences with students through the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center, describing the persecution, hiding and help from others that had shaped his childhood.