David W. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 1246
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of David W., who was born in 1922 in Krako?w, Poland, one of three children. He recounts attending Jewish and public schools; beatings because he was Jewish; German invasion; fleeing east for several weeks with his brother; anti-Jewish restrictions; forced labor; ghettoization in 1941; his parents' deportation (he never saw them again); incarceration in P?aszo?w; public hangings and shootings; transfer to Auschwitz for less than a day, then to Mauthausen; meaningless slave labor carrying rocks; transfer to St. Valentin; slave labor in a tank factory; a non-Jewish acquaintance from Krako?w throwing him cigarettes; exchanging them for bread; an Allied bombing in which he was wounded; transfer back to Mauthausen; observing cannibalized corpses; a death march to Wels and Gunskirchen; liberation by United States troops; living in a displaced persons camp in Linz; contracting typhus; convalescing for several weeks; learning his sister and brother had been killed; meeting his future wife; moving to Bad Ischl, then Ebelsberg displaced persons camps; and emigration to the United States in 1949, with assistance from HIAS. Mr. W. discusses only thinking about food and his indifference to life in camps; continuing problems resulting from his bombing wound; not sharing his experiences with his children; and visiting graves and memorials with his wife in Krako?w, P?aszo?w, and Auschwitz.

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

Corporate Bodies

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.