Irwin W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Irwin W., who was born in Sladkow Maly, Poland in 1920. He recalls a difficult, but socially rich, life; ghettoization; escaping from a mass killing with his brother; hiding with farmers; joining the Polish underground as a non-Jew; leaving when exposure was imminent; entering Kielce concentration camp; forced labor for HASAG; sabotaging production; transfer to Cze?stochowa; evacuation to Buchenwald, then Stassfurt; working in coal mines; being abandoned by the guards on a death march in Czechoslovakia; attempting to enlist in the Soviet army; rejection due to ill health; returning to Cze?stochowa, Chmielnik, and Kielce to seek family members; leaving his hometown to avoid antisemitic violence; learning two sisters had survived; finding one and seeking the other in many cities; living in Berlin, Munich, and a displaced persons camp; and emigration to the United States. Mr. W. discusses many incidents in hiding, the camps, and after the war, and notes frequent nightmares as a consequence of his experiences.
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
- W., Irwin, -- 1920-
Corporate Bodies
- Częstochowa (Concentration camp)
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
- Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft.
Subjects
- Mass killings.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Nightmares.
- Refugee camps.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Hiding.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Escapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Poland.
- Death marches.
- Forced labor.
- Sabotage.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Videotapes.
Places
- Stassfurt (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Kielce (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Czechoslovakia.
- Sladkow Maly (Poland)
- Poland.
- Munich (Germany)
- Kielce (Poland)
- Chmielnik (Województwo Świętokrzyskie, Poland)
- Częstochowa (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat.