Zoltan J. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Zoltan J., who was born in Mukacheve, Czechoslovakia (presently Ukraine) in 1922. He describes his large extended family and long history in the area; their affluence; cordial relations with non-Jews; Hungarian occupation; expulsion from school; reinstatement due to his father's connections; his and his father's exclusion from slave labor battalions due to their business; ghettoization; transfer to a brick factory; deportation to Auschwitz; remaining with his father, uncle, and brother (his other relatives did not survive); their transfer to Warsaw four weeks later; clearing ghetto rubble; trading valuables they found for food; his father entering the hospital; killing of all the patients; a death march and train transport to Dachau; clearing Allied bombing rubble in Munich; transfer to Kaufering; his brother singing for the SS for extra food; his disappearance; saving a "living corpse" when assigned to bury bodies (they see each other to the present time); liberation in April 1945; hospitalization; wanting to kill all Germans, but deciding not to; establishing a business in Prague with assistance from his father's attorney; emigration to the United States when the government was changing; marriage in Paris; and assisting the Haganah acquire weapons in 1947. Mr. J. discusses sharing his story with his children, particularly on Passover, and daily memories of his murdered family.
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette
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. This testimony can only be used for educational purposes.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- J., Zoltan, -- 1922-
Corporate Bodies
- Haganah (Organization)
- Kaufering (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Konzentrationslager Warschau.
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Death marches.
- Forced labor.
- Revenge.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Mutual aid.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Fathers and sons.
- Jews -- Ukraine -- Mukacheve.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Family relationships.
- Brothers.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Mukacheve (Ukraine)
- Czechoslovakia.
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- MunkaĚcs ghetto.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat