Harry W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Harry W., who was born in Bez?ovce, Czechoslovakia in 1916. He tells of moving to Uz?h?horod in 1920; attending public and Hebrew school; the beauty and peace of their Shabbat observance; being stabbed by another boy in an anti-Semitic incident; studying at the Yeshivas in Mukachevo and Bratislava; and leaving in 1938 because of the Hungarian occupation of his hometown. He describes being drafted into a Hungarian labor battalion; working in many places in Hungary, Yugoslavia and the Ukraine; harsh conditions and lack of food; working in Budapest where he could leave the camp; being offered shelter in one of Raoul Wallenberg's Swedish safe houses and refusing to leave his fellow workers; transfer to Austria; the death march to Mauthausen; transfer to Gunskirchen; liberation by Americans in May 1945; and his recovery from typhus. Mr. W. relates his return to Uz?h?horod; various business ventures in Hungary and Czechoslovakia; the reunion with his three younger sisters (six others had perished); difficulties living under the Soviets; emigration to Israel, to Canada, then to the United States. He recalls his mother's charitable personality and an encounter with a boyhood friend who lost his faith in Judaism because of Holocaust experiences. Mr. W. concludes that such evil had nothing to do with God but was due to humans.
Extent and Medium
3 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
- Wallenberg, Raoul, -- 1912-1947.
- W., Harry, -- 1916-
Corporate Bodies
- Mauthausen (Concentration camp)
- Gunskirchen (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Cannibalism.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Conscript labor -- Hungary.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Conscript labor -- Ukraine.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Moral and ethical aspects.
- Brothers and sisters.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Conscript labor -- Yugoslavia.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Death marches.
- Friendship.
- Rabbinical seminaries.
- Hungarian occupation.
- Mutual aid.
- Mass killings.
- Aid by non-Jews.
Places
- Uz︠h︡horod (Ukraine)
- Bratislava (Slovakia)
- Israel.
- Mukacheve (Ukraine)
- Munkács (Hungary)
- Užhorod (Czechoslovakia)
- Romania.
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Bežovce (Slovakia)
- Czechoslovakia.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat