Ann Federman was the next-to-youngest of nine children born to Miriam and Abraham Warszawski in Będzin, Poland. Only fourteen when the Germans invaded Poland, Ann spent the war in Parschnitz, a slave labor in camp in Czechoslovakia. After liberation, Ann was eventually reunited with her sister and two brothers. The family lived in the Bergen Belsen Displaced Persons Camps where she met her husband, Isak Federman. They came to the United States in 1946, settling in Kansas City, where they were the first Holocaust survivors to marry.

Ann Federman was the next-to-youngest of nine children born to Miriam and Abraham Warszawski in Będzin, Poland. Only fourteen when the Germans invaded Poland, Ann spent the war in Parschnitz, a slave labor in camp in Czechoslovakia. After liberation, Ann was eventually reunited with her sister and two brothers. The family lived in the Bergen Belsen Displaced Persons Camps where she met her husband, Isak Federman. They came to the United States in 1946, settling in Kansas City, where they were the first Holocaust survivors to marry.

Gustave Eisemann, was born in 1926 in Halberstadt, Germany. He lived comfortably with his parents and sisters in Berlin, where they frequented the opera, theater, and museums and where Gustave attended a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school. After Hitler came to power in 1933, he saw Hitler Youth and antisemitic newspapers in the street and his parents became increasingly aware that they were not accepted. As it became increasingly difficult for his father to conduct business with non-Jewish businessmen, the family prepared paperwork to leave Germany, receiving affidavits of support from relatives in the United States. In the spring of 1938, the Eisemanns left Germany, settling in Kansas City, where Gustave entered the seventh grade. Gustave completed his education, including being admitted as one of the first Jewish residents at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. He met his wife Elinor during a fellowship in hematology at Boston’s New England Medical Center.

Maria Devinki grew up in Wodzisław, Poland. The Germans sent her father to Treblinka and forced the rest of the family into a ghetto. In 1943, after a year spent as a slave laborer in the Skarżysko complex, a Polish army officer helped Maria leave the camp and hide – along with her husband, her mother, and her brothers. After the Soviets liberated Poland, they tried to resume their lives. However, in May 1945, after her younger brother was killed by members of the Armia Krajowa, Maria and her husband made their way to Germany and from there to the United States, arriving in Kansas City in 1950.

Tola Gottlieb was born in 1924 in Sosnowiec, Poland to an observant Jewish family. One of four siblings, Tola remembers that though her family was not wealthy, they had what they needed and they were happy. As a teenager Tola was forced into the Sosnowiec ghetto where her family was gradually taken away until she was left with just her younger sister. When Tola was deported to the Auschwitz camp complex she was consigned for forced labor, first at Gleiwitz and then, following a January 1945 death march, in Ravensbrück. After her liberation, Tola made her way to Paris where she eventually met and married Iser Cukier. The couple, and their son Jeanot, immigrated to the United States in 1952.

The family settled in Kansas City, where Tola had friends and family. 

Ilsa Dahl grew up in Geilenkirchen, Germany where her family had lived for generations. They were observant Jews and patriotic Germans, and Ilsa’s father had served in the German army during World War I. Of the town’s 4000 inhabitants, most were Roman Catholics, with whom the family enjoyed friendly relations. Ilsa had hoped to be an archeologist, but the Nazis thwarted her hopes for higher education, so she studied dressmaking, first in Aachen and then in Berlin, where she met her future husband. Ilsa, who already had an American visa, left Germany days after Kristallnacht, but her parents and most of her extended family were killed in camps. 

She discusses joining family in Kansas City, working in the garment industry, her family and social life, and other topics.

Interview with World War II army veteran Albert Jones. Jones discusses being drafted into the army in 1943, joining the 10th Calvary, serving in North Africa and Italy during the war, and building bridges and maintaining supply lines. He also discusses the history of the 10th Calvary and the Buffalo Soldiers and conventions honoring that history.

Interview with Mark Turner about his and his family's history in Westport. Turner discusses recreation in Swope Park, Fairyland Park, and Mill Creek Park, his experience of segregation at local businesses, finding ways to make money as a kid, and attending an integrated school with primarily white teachers after Brown vs. Board of Education. He also shares memories of St. Luke's Hospital, including its segregation policy in his early life, neighbors working in the laundry, and their chaplain helping the community after a fire at St. James Church. Turner also discusses his experience in higher education as a professor with Metropolitan Community Colleges, and his view of the different expectations of and skillsets taught to white and Black students. 

Interview with former Steptoe resident Mary Stone. Stone shares memories of growing up in the Steptoe area of Westport, attending Penn School and St. Luke's AME Church, her friends and neighbors, and recreation opportunities in other parts of the city. She also discusses her parents' jobs, including her mother's work supervising staff at the Riviera Apartments, changes in Westport due to demographic shifts and St. Luke's Hospital expansion projects, and holding Westport reunions with friends and former neighbors at Loose Park. 

Interview with William Shelby about the history of Westport and the Steptoe neighborhood. Shelby discusses his family's history in Westport dating back to 1870, their founding of the St. James Baptist Church, and his father's work as an educator at Penn and other schools, as well as his personal history growing up near 27th & Tracy, family, and work.  He also discusses St. Luke's Hospital's expansion and relationship with the neighborhood.