Paul D. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Paul D., who was born in Moldava, Czechoslovakia, in 1935. Mr. D. describes his joyous childhood and the death of his father when Mr. D. was three years old; his family's move to Humenne?, Slovakia, where his grandparents lived; being baptized in order to avoid deportation, and his feelings, then and now, regarding his baptism; and being smuggled into Moldava, which was then Hungarian territory, where he lived with his grandfather. He tells of the German occupation in 1944; a series of confrontations with an anti-Semitic teacher; the transfer of the Jews of Moldava to the Kos?ice ghetto; and being smuggled back to Humenne?, where he was reunited with his mother and stepfather. He recounts his flight with his parents, who had secured false papers, into the Tatra mountains; their unsuccessful attempt to join the partisans; and the arrest and disappearance of his father, who, he later learned, was killed. Mr. D. recalls his close relationship with his mother, with whom he survived the war; their respective strategies for survival; their hiding, first in Bratislava, where they were taken in by a young gentile woman, and later in a small town; the tragedies and atrocities which he witnessed; and the end of the war. He also reflects on the nature and images of his memory and his need to transmit his recollections to his children.
Extent and Medium
2 videocassettes (3/4" u-matic)
Conditions Governing Access
This testimony is open with permission.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright has been transferred to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Use of this testimony requires permission of the Fortunoff Video Archive.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- D., Paul, -- 1935-
Subjects
- False papers.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Child survivors.
- Hiding.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Identification (Religion)
- Christian converts from Judaism.
- Mothers and sons.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
Places
- Slovak Republic (Czechoslovakia)
- Moldava nad Bodvou (Slovakia)
- Czechoslovakia.
- HumenneĚ (Slovakia)
- KosĚice (Slovakia)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- ftamc