Jacob B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Jacob B., who was born in Il'nitas, Czechoslovakia (now Ukraine) in 1922. He recalls moving to a small village in 1927; attending yeshivoth in a nearby town in Slovakia and in Munkacs; difficulties returning home after Hungarian occupation in 1938; abusive behavior by the police; increasing anti-Jewish restrictions; dealing on the black market to support his family; changing his last name to escape arrest; compulsory service in a Hungarian labor battalion from 1943 onward in O?zd, Moha?cs, Pe?cs, Koma?rom, and Budapest; efforts to observe the dietary laws; harsh conditions and lack of food; a forced march to Mauthausen, then Gunskirchen; and liberation by United States troops. Mr. B. recounts returning to Czechoslovakia; discovering his family had perished in Auschwitz; fleeing to the American zone; marriage; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Mr. B. details many incidents in forced labor and concentration camps and he shows a siddur (prayer book) which he retained throughout the war.
Extent and Medium
3 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
- B., Jacob, -- 1922-
Corporate Bodies
- Mauthausen (Concentration camp)
- Gunskirchen (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Religious life.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Conscript labor -- Hungary.
- Death marches.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Hungarian occupation.
- Mutual aid.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Mukacheve (Ukraine)
- Czechoslovakia.
- Mohács (Hungary)
- Ózd (Hungary)
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Pécs (Hungary)
- Il'nitsa (Ukraine)
- Komárom (Hungary)
- Munkács (Hungary)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat