Sylvia Blasberg was a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust who settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after World War II.

Sylvia Schwerd Blasberg was born in Lwow (Sylvia calls it by its former name, Lemberg), Poland on December 5, 1925. She was the oldest of four siblings. The Russian army occupied her hometown in 1939. When the German army invaded the Soviet territory on June 22, 1941, 15-year-old Sylvia was placed on a truck heading east into the depths of Russia. For nearly three years she worked at a number of collective settlements, which were continually evacuated as the Germans advanced. In early 1943, after the Germans suffered crucial defeats, she and two friends began to wend their way homeward.

In the spring of 1944, the girls reached their hometowns in the now Russian-occupied Poland. They had heard of the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis, but were unprepared for the devastation that greeted them. Sylvia discovered that there were no survivors from her family and seriously contemplated suicide.

While searching for relatives, Sylvia met Harry Blasberg, another survivor. After three weeks the two were married. Throughout 1945, they lived in a variety of Polish cities, including Warsaw, until they were able to reach Berlin and several displaced persons camps. Contact with relatives in the United States prompted the Blasbergs' immigration to Milwaukee in September 1949.

In Wisconsin, the Blasbergs struggled to establish themselves. They moved often and each held a variety of jobs. At the time of this interview, Sylvia was employed by the Jewish Family and Children's Service as an interpreter for new Russian immigrants.

Sylvia Blasberg, Oral History Interview

Sylvia's Testimony

Listen to Sylvia Blasberg tell her story to the Wisconsin Historical Society interviewer. 

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Oral Histories: Wisconsin Survivors of the Holocaust

Hear the stories of 22 Holocaust Survivors and two American witnesses interviewed between 1974 and 1981.