Harry Urbansky, Interviewed by Chelsea Pankratz 2007
Name of person interviewed: Harry (A.G.) Urbansky Researcher: Katelyn Veith Date of interview: 2007 Location of interview: Pendleton, OR General description: Interview of Mr. Urbansky's experiences growing up in Germany during WWII Length of interview: 14:36
Index
0:00-1:06 Early years of school in Berlin 1:07-4:00 Early years in the Hitler Youth; seeing Hitler personally 4:02 - 6:40 Recalling his father's role in the war; daily life in the youth camp 6:40 - 7:30 Description of Hitler Youth uniform 7:30 - 8:05 Personal view of Hitler 8:06 - 9:47 Sheltering Jewish friends 10:00 - 12:59 Father wounded in war 13:00 - end Fate of other boys in his youth camp
Mr. Harry (A.G.) Urbansky Interviewed by Chelsea Pankratz 2007
Mr. Harry Urbansky was a native of Berlin, Germany, and was born in 1932.
During WWII, Mr. Urbansky was required to join the Hitler Youth. He was a member of this organization from 1942-1944.
Mr. Urbansky recalls that, as a 10 year old school boy, he first learned about Adolf Hitler when he was required to join the Hitler Youth. It was also about this time that he first saw Hitler in a parade that his father had taken him to watch. Harry once again came close to Hitler when he was 12 years old and attending a youth training camp.
Mr. Urbansky recalls how he and his family learned of the terrible atrocities committed by the Nazis only after the war was over. He remembers that some of his best friends and neighbors in Germany were Jews and even recalls helping a Jewish woman take cover in a bomb shelter near the end of the war.
Mr. Urbansky's father was wounded in the war and was hospitalized in Poland. Harry was sent to Poland to attend to his father but was supposed to report directly back to his youth camp. His father arranged for him to go home to Berlin to be with his mother.
Mr. Urbansky later learned that he and four others were the only survivors of his youth camp following Russia's entry into Germany.