Reverend John S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Reverend John S., a Jesuit priest who was born in Kos?ice, Czechoslovakia, in 1922. Rev. S. describes his good relations with his many Jewish neighbors; serving as a 'Shabbos goy' as a child; life in Kos?ice under Hungarian, Czech, and German rule and the corresponding shifts in attitudes towards Jews; his three year seclusion in a monastery in Budapest; his return to Kos?ice (where he hid a group of non-Jewish partisans who were slated for deportation); and his feeling that sympathetic gentiles were unprepared to deal with the evil of the Holocaust. Rev. S. also describes an incident in which he witnessed a group of Jews being deported in cattle-cars and the brutal beating of one of those Jews; and the night that he was awakened by the sound of the weeping of those Jews awaiting deportation. In addition, Rev. S. reveals that he considers his own failure to act on behalf of the Jews to be the greatest personal tragedy of his life.
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
- S., John, -- 1922-1988.
Corporate Bodies
- Catholic Church.
Subjects
- Bystanders.
- Video tapes.
- Catholics.
- Men.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Czech.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
Places
- Czechoslovakia.
- KosĚice (Slovakia)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- ftamc