Martin S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Martin S., who was born in Tarnobrzeg, Poland, in 1933. Mr. S. recalls his happy childhood; the inferno of the German occupation; hiding in a small town; his arrival in the Skarz?ysko-Kamienna labor camp, where he was separated from his mother; his decision to be a 'model prisoner' as a means of surviving in spite of his youth; his work in the camp; his extreme reactions to the brutality and dehumanization; his transfer, along with his brother, to Buchenwald; their liberation from Buchenwald; and their postwar return to Poland, where they found that their entire family except for their mother and one cousin had perished. He relates his experience of two postwar pogroms in Poland; emigration to the United States; and the disbelief of his Yeshiva classmates, and even of his mother, and his subsequent decades-long silence about his experiences. Mr. S. also speaks of his marriage; his recent decision to speak about his wartime experiences, though convinced that the full truth could not be believed; and the permanent effects of those experiences.
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., Martin, -- 1933-
Corporate Bodies
- SkarzĚysko-Kamienna (Concentration camp)
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Child survivors.
- Brothers.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Psychological aspects.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Poland.
- Tarnobrzeg (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- ftamc