Local Survivors

Magda Schalam

A young Hungarian woman fresh out of high school at the beginning of the Holocaust, Mrs. Schalam tells of her experiences in several concentration camps; including Auschwitz. Clips of her speaking can be found by going to the Site Map at the bottem of the page and clicking on either Thoughts From the Cast of Schindler's List, Crematoria, or Trains.

Peter Metzelaar

Mr. Metzelaar, who spent several years in hiding tell of his mother and his amazing escape into the life of a regular Amsterdam schoolboy.

When Mr. Metzelaar was 5 years old the roundup of Jews in Amsterdam began. He and his mother Elli Metzelaar lived in several safehouses far from Amsterdam until 1944 when things got too dangerous, Elli dresed up as a Red Cross nurse and claimed to have found Peter after a bombing and that she had to take him to an orphanage in Amsterdam. In this way she and her son got a ride from several SS officers to thier next safehouse.