Teddy Freund
"When I was a child, we had a saying, if only one Jew remains alive... “Am Yisroel chai ve’khayom” (The nation of Israel lives and is strong). As a child, I could not understand what terrible thing I committed to deserve being killed. As a human being, I would like to leave a message to humanity that no evil is strong enough to destroy our will to survive and overcome us. Good people must stand up to evil before evil does its dastardly deeds."
Name at birth
Tovia Ashendorf
Date of birth
05/28/1935
Where were you born?
Where did you grow up?
Koralowka, Poland
Name of father, occupation
Yohoshua Ashendorf,
Had a threshing machine. During the harvest season, he would take the machine from farm to farm to thresh crops for the farmers.
Maiden name of mother, occupation
Rivka Ashendorf,
Homemaker
During the liquidation of the Borshov Ghetto, my mother was able to smuggle me back to my home village of Koralowka. While in the Borshov ghetto, I witnessed systematic pogroms. From 1943-1944, my mother, brother, and I lived in the fields or near a forest of the village. At night we went to friendly farmers for food.
Name of Ghetto(s)
Where were you in hiding?
Fields and forests near Koralowka, Poland
When did you come to the United States?
May 5, 1951 with my adopted parents, Regina and Jacob Freund
When and where were you married?
1964 in Detroit
Spouse
Alice Freund
Children
Jay (Yehoshua Jacob), Tammie (Tobie Rivka), and Adam
What message would you like to leave for future generations?
When I was a child, we had a saying, if only one Jew remains alive... “Am Yisroel chai ve’khayom” (The nation of Israel lives and is strong). As a child, I could not understand what terrible thing I committed to deserve being killed. As a human being, I would like to leave a message to humanity that no evil is strong enough to destroy our will to survive and overcome us. Good people must stand up to evil before evil does its dastardly deeds.
Interviewer:
Charles Silow
Interview date:
12/29/2000
Experiences
Survivor's map
