Allen S. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 0833
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Allen S., who was born in Miko?ajow, Poland, in 1929. In these detailed and graphic testimonies, Mr. S. recounts prewar life in Iwje; the rise of Nazism and Polish antisemitism; Soviet occupation; deportation of relatives to Siberia; German invasion; Polish harassment and violence against Jews; Einsatzkommandos killing his father; ghettoization of Iwje; hiding during a mass killing of 2,500, including his mother, in 1942; and forced labor. He recalls escaping; hiding with a neighbor in Miko?ajow; joining the partisans; smuggling himself to Iwje to find contraband for the partisans; escaping after the head of the Judenrat refused to give him false papers; anti-Nazi operations by the Stalin Brigade; his commander's rape of two Polish girls and the unit's execution of their family; partisan antisemitism; meeting relatives in the Bielski Brigade; liberation; and his return to Iwje. He describes his depression; alcohol abuse; police work punishing ex-collaborators; being drafted into the Soviet army unit denazifying Soviet POWs near Brest-Litovsk; Soviet antisemitism; transfer to the Polish army to escape to the West; meeting Israelis in Bia?ystok who gave him false papers; reunion with surviving friends and family in the Neufreimann displaced persons camp; emigrating to America in 1947; finding attitudes unchanged as an American soldier in Germany in the 1950s; and his successful career in the fashion industry.

Extent and Medium

5 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

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This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.