Ann J. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Ann J., who was born in Kobyl?nik, Poland (presently Narach, Belarus) in 1931, one of six children. She recalls antisemitic violence and boycotts; Soviet occupation in 1939; German invasion in June 1941; anti-Jewish violence by local militiamen; a round-up of all the Jews in fall 1942; Germans hiding her older brother; her family's release because her mother made dresses for the mayor's family; transfer to Myadzyel; escape with her parents, two sisters, and infant brother during a partisan attack; hiding in a forest; cold and starvation; obtaining food by begging from local farmers; hiding in a swamp; building a bunker for their second winter of hiding; German attacks; liberation by Soviet troops in July 1944; returning home (the town had been burned down); moving to Postavy; resuming school; her father testifying at a collaborator's trial; moving to Poland in 1946; fleeing antisemitic violence; moving to a displaced persons camp in Germany via Czechoslovakia and Austria; and emigration to the United States. Ms. J. discusses the uniqueness of her family's survival, although one brother was killed, and contacts with partisans in the forest.

3 videocassettes