Sam N. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Sam N., who was born in Rzeszo?w, Poland in 1929. He recalls the German invasion; fleeing with his family to another town; hiding while SS troops murdered 300 Jews and burned the synagogue; their return to Rzeszo?w; anti-Jewish restrictions; an unsuccessful attempt to escape to the Soviet zone; ghettoization; his mother's arrest and interrogation; and his father's death while in hiding. Mr. N. tells of the influx of Jews from surrounding areas; frequent deportations; his bar mitzvah, for which he studied in secret; transfer to Reichshof labor camp in Rzeszo?w; his sister's escape, betrayal and deportation to Auschwitz, where she was killed; liquidation of the ghetto in the fall of 1943; escaping from Reichshof with his mother in November; hiding with his former Polish nursemaid and her sister; and liberation by Soviet troops in July 1944. He discusses his rescuers' fear of revealing they helped Jews; fleeing Rzeszo?w in June 1945 due to a blood libel accusation against the surviving Jews; living three years with his mother in Neufreiman and Zeilsheim displaced persons camps; and emigration to the United States. Mr. N. notes continuing contact with the people who saved them and their recognition by Yad Vashem.

2 videocassettes