Using Oral Histories

Questions to Ask

  • How did you feel while watching this oral history?
  • What did you hear in this oral history that shows the attitudes towards Jews at this time?
  • What conclusions can you draw about this person’s life during this time period?
  • Does anything you heard contradict what you already knew about the Holocaust?
  • What did you hear that supported what you already knew about the Holocaust?
  • What questions does this oral history raise about the Holocaust?

Background Information

Clara Daniels (Fried) was born on October 17, 1923 in Nyírkarász, Hungary to Morris and Jolan Fried. Clara had two brothers: an older brother named Laslo and a younger brother named Joseph. The Frieds lived on a large, family-owned farm that was integral to the local community.

In 1944 the family was sent to live in the Kisvárda ghetto. A few months later, they were deported to Auschwitz by railcar. Upon arrival, Clara was separated from her immediate family. She managed, however, to stay together with some of her cousins, Susan, Eva, and Katie. Clara was later sent to Dachau in the fall of 1944, and then to Allach, where she was liberated. After liberation, Clara went to the Feldafing displaced persons camp outside of Munich before migrated to the States on July 15, 1949.

Clara met her husband, Cary Daniels, in Brooklyn. Cary had immigrated to the States from Poland. He had also been in Auschwitz as well as five other concentration camps. The couple married on May 6, 1951. They had two sons before eventually settling in Richmond.

To use the Daniels in your research, here is a link to the Daniels' Family Finding Aid.