David O. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of David O., who was born in a Polish village in 1916, one of five children. He describes his orthodox childhood, attending a local public school and cheder; his bar mitzvah in 1929; attending yeshivahs in Kielce and Be?dzin; living on an orthodox hachsharah for a year, preparing to emigrate to Palestine; working in Olkusz; conscription into the Polish military in March 1939; German invasion six months later; capture by Germans; a Polish farmer informing him Jews were being sent away; escaping with assistance from the farmer; returning home; his mother's death in 1941; hiding with a Polish family for one night; round-up to S?omniki; transport with his brother to Rzeszo?w in 1942 (he never saw his father or sisters again); slave labor in a factory; receiving food from non-Jewish civilian workers; transfer to Krako?w, then Ostrowiec; his brother's death; transfer to Auschwitz/Birkenau in 1944; a death march to Mauthausen, Gusen, then Gunskirchen; liberation by United States troops; recuperating in an American hospital in Wels; living with a cousin in a displaced persons camp; emigration to join an uncle in the United States in 1949; and marriage to a survivor. Mr. O. discusses the importance to his survival of not losing hope; reluctance to share his experiences with his children; and missing the orthodoxy of his childhood. He shows photographs.
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
- O., David, -- 1916-
Corporate Bodies
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Mauthausen (Concentration camp)
- Gusen (Concentration camp)
- Gunskirchen (Concentration camp)
- Ostrowiec (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- Refugee camps.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Polish.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Zionists.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Jewish.
- Death marches.
- Bar mitzvah.
- Forced labor.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Brothers.
Places
- Poland.
- Kraków (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Rzeszów (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Wels (Austria)
- Słomniki (Poland)
- Olkusz (Poland)
- Będzin (Poland)
- Kielce (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat