Joseph M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Joseph M., who was born in Poland in 1922. He recalls German invasion; the bombing of his home on his birthday, September 25, 1939; anti-Jewish regulations; his family's decision that he should escape to the Soviet zone; seeing his mother for the last time on October 19th; being hidden and guided to the Soviet border by a peasant woman; working in Borisov; learning of his father's and brother's escape to the Soviet zone; and losing contact with his mother and sister after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Mr. M. recounts fleeing by train to Smolensk, then Kazakhstan; conscription into the Soviet army; forced labor in a Siberian coal mine from early 1942 onward; severe cold, hunger, and discipline; returning to Poland in 1946; fleeing to the American zone with help from Zionist groups; living in displaced persons camps in Wegscheid, Admont and Wels; working for the Joint in Linz; marrying in 1949; and emigrating to the United States in 1951. He notes finding surviving cousins, but never learning the fate of his parents and siblings.
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
- M., Joseph, -- 1922-
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Refugee camps.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Refugees, Jewish.
Places
- Wegscheid (Austria : Refugee camp)
- Wels (Austria : Refugee camp)
- Linz (Austria)
- Admont (Austria : Refugee camp)
- Smolensk (Russia)
- Siberia (Russia)
- Kazakhstan.
- Borisov (Belarus)
- Poland.
- Warsaw (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat