Michael K. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Michael K., who was born in Krako?w, Poland in 1919, one of seven children. He recounts his mother's death; his father's remarriage; antisemitic violence; learning the wholesale shoe business starting at age fourteen; German invasion; moving with his family to an older sister's home in Tarno?w; arrest for traveling on a train; incarceration in Pustko?w; escaping; moving with his family to Proszowice, then into the Krako?w ghetto; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; remaining with his father and brother; his father's selection for death; transfer to Buna/Monowitz; a boy helping him obtain a better job; transfer to Gross-Rosen, then Buchenwald; his brother's death; liberation by United States troops; living in Weimar; emigration to Israel in 1948; military service; and marriage. Mr. K. discusses public hangings of camp escapees; observing Yom Kippur one year in camp; not understanding how he survived; and being the sole survivor of his family.
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette
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
- K., Michael, -- 1919-
Corporate Bodies
- Pustków (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Gross-Rosen (Concentration camp)
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
- Monowitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Escapes.
- Fathers and sons.
- Jews -- Poland -- Kraków.
- Forced labor.
- Brothers.
- Mutual aid.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Religious life.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Kraków (Poland)
- Poland.
- Tarnów (Województwo Małopolskie, Poland)
- Proszowice (Poland)
- Weimer (Thuringia, Germany)
- Israel.
- Kraków ghetto.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat