Mitchell W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Mitchell W., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland in 1926. He recalls his large and close extended family; German invasion; confiscation of Jewish property resulting in loss of family income; ghettoization; working as an electrician; his father's death from starvation in April 1941; deportation with his mother to Auschwitz/Birkenau in August 1944; transfer to Mys?owice (Gu?nthergrube) after volunteering as an electrician; forced labor in coal mines; being saved from a selection by doctors in the infirmary; prisoner variety shows on Christmas and New Year; the death march in January 1945; escaping with another prisoner; arrest; imprisonment in Czechoslovakia and Vienna; and transfer to Mauthausen. Mr W. remembers the complete lack of food; eating snails and dead birds; moving to the tent camp; liberation; escaping due to his fear of being caught again by Germans; living in a displaced pserons camp; returning to ?o?dz? to seek family; fearing to reclaim family property due to antisemitism; traveling with a kibbutz to Czechoslovakia and Germany; and emigrating to the United States. He discusses his inability to enjoy anything because he lost all family with whom to share his life.
Extent and Medium
2 videocassettes
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., Mitchell, -- 1926-
Corporate Bodies
- Günthergrube (Concentration camp)
- Myslowice (Concentration camp)
- Mauthausen (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Postwar effects.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Postwar experiences.
- Hospitals in concentration camps.
- Mutual aid.
- Child survivors.
- Refugee camps.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Jews -- Poland -- Łódź.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Forced labor.
- Death marches.
- Escapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
Places
- Łódź ghetto.
- Germany.
- Czechoslovakia.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, Austrian.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German.
- Łódź (Poland)
- Poland.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat