David S. Wisnia was born in August 1926 in the suburb Sochaczew, outside of Warsaw, Poland. His father was a carpenter by trade and furniture supplier to the major stores in Warsaw. Wisnia went to a private school that taught Hebrew and Polish. Wisnia’s family was Jewish, but were not conservative. He graduated from grade school in 1937, and then his family moved to Warsaw. He grew up with one older brother and one younger brother. While living in Warsaw, he attended a private high school and continued his education. In 1939, he celebrated his birthday, and the next day the Germans invaded Poland destroying the airport near Warsaw. After the Polish Army tried to defend Poland, Germany had taken over. It took about one month for the Germans to take over Warsaw. Everyone was hoping that countries like France and the British would come to their aid, and they did, but very insignificantly. After the ghetto [Annotator’s Note: Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust.] was formed in 1940, Wisnia continued his education. He lived on the edge of the perimeter in the ghetto. Everything changed as soon as the Nazi Army attacked Russia in June 1941. The SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization] took over the guarding of the ghetto, and food became scarce. The ghetto began to be overcrowded with Jews from other areas nearby. His father became ill and Wisnia had to go work for him in his place at the airstrip. One day, Wisnia returned home to find his father, mother, and younger brother murdered by the Nazi SS. David's older brother had escaped the ghetto, but was never seen again.

David S. Wisnia was living in the Warsaw Ghetto [Annotator’s Note: Warsaw, Poland] when one day, he returned home to find his father, mother, and younger brother murdered by the Nazi SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization]. Wisnia ran away, but was eventually captured and taken by cattle car to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp complex in German-occupied Oswiecim, Poland]. He arrived at the camp in late 1942 with a group of 1,500 people. He lied to the SS guard and told him he was 18 years old when he was actually only 16 years old. He was told to go stand with the other able-bodied men. The other group were women, children, and the elderly. Wisnia was taken into the camp and learned later that the other group of people had been massacred and burned in pits. While in Auschwitz, he was assigned to cell block 14 and later cell block 15. He received a tattoo with the number 83526 on his left forearm. When prisoners found out what had happened to their family, some of them committed suicide by electrocuting themselves on a fence. Wisnia’s first job was to transfer the bodies of these suicides to a cart. Not long later, his cell block leader asked if anyone could sing. When Wisnia said he could, everything changed for him. He became a privileged prisoner. When he first arrived at the camp, he was given a shower and an assessment. One of the guards that gave him the assessment was wearing a belt buckle that said in German, “God is with us.” Wisnia decided at that moment that he would outlive this guard. The roll call killed them, because prisoners had to stand in the mud in the freezing weather twice a day. One morning, Wisnia overslept through the roll call, and he was sent to three months of penal colony in the camp at cell block 2.

After two weeks at Auschwitz-Birkenau [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oswiecim, Poland], David S. Wisnia was selected to be a privileged prisoner because he had the ability to sing. He was invited to sing at German parties and was given gifts by a particular SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization] officer. About two months after arriving at the camp, he was given the job of working with sonar. He had a more privileged role than the rest of the prisoners. People do not appreciate America and take their freedoms for granted. He was not at the Warsaw Ghetto during the uprising in October 1943 because he was already in Auschwitz. He was aware of the revolt at crematorium IV and those who planned it because he was nearby all the action. He witnessed the revolt. The members were not organized, but they knew they were going to die anyway. The Jewish people were never organized during World War 2, and that is why he is impressed with Israel today because they have a strong military. While in camp, a Jewish actress was told to remove her clothing, and when she did, she threw it at the face of an SS guard, took his gun and killed him [Annotator’s Note: possibly referring to Franceska Manheimer-Rosenberg, a Polish Jewish ballerina who killed an SS guard before being killed herself]. Wisnia was evacuated from the camp in December 1944 and marched to the town of Gleiwitz [Annotator’s Note: Gleiwitz, Poland] and boarded a train to Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany].

David S. Wisnia was evacuated from Auschwitz-Birkenau [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oswiecim, Poland] to Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany] in December 1944 on one of the last transports. In February [Annotator’s Note: of 1945] he was sent to Austria to build bunkers. He could see and feel that the war was coming to an end because of the German morale. He told himself to survive another day. Dachau was horrible because there was no food to eat, no medical help, and it was overcrowded. People had no place to sleep, and people died just from the elements. He volunteered to go build bunks because he thought anything would be better than Dachau. His train was strafed by Allied planes on the way to Austria. Wisnia was soon rescued by the 101st Airborne Division. He became an interpreter for the unit. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:53:16.000.] Wisnia tried to escape from Dachau. While he was on the train, he waited until the train was strafed to make a run for it. He made it about 200 yards into a field with a barn. He hid in the barn with others, but soon the SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization] found them and marched them out. In March 1945, he made another attempt to escape from the train again, wounding one of the guards. This time he made a successful escape. One morning he saw a column of tanks coming down the road. He saw a white star and thought it was a Russian unit. He soon realized it was Americans. He heard Americans speak English for the first time and thought it sounded funny.

In March 1945, David S. Wisnia had escaped Dachau [Annotator's Note: Dachau concentration camp complex near Dachau, Germany] and was rescued by the 101st Airborne Division. He had difficulty understanding the American accent, so he asked the Americans for a Polish interpreter. When a solider appeared to help with translation, Wisnia said he had a horrible Polish interpretation. He became the mascot and official interpreter for the unit. Later, when the unit reached Versailles [Annotator’s Note: Versailles, France], Wisnia was put in charge of the supply office and PX [Annotator's Note: post exchange]. He was in Germany when the war ended. After the war, he went to the United States to live with his aunt in the Bronx, New York. He had no clothes, so his uncle bought him a new suit at Gimbels Department Store. While he was in Germany, he bought a camera which had a swastika on it, but it was stolen on the first night he was in America. He hopes that the children he speaks to have respect for themselves and for others.