Frank S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Frank S., who was born in Parkan (today S?tu?rovo), Czechoslovakia, in 1926. Mr. S. recalls his father's imprisonment as a "Hungarian master spy" in 1937; his release when Parkan was ceded to Hungary; his parents' separation in 1940; attending gymnasium in Debrecen; returning to Parkan with his mother in March 1944; smuggling food into the ghetto; losing his exemption (as the son of a Hungarian hero) from forced labor in August 1944; railroad construction in Transylvania; work as the commandant's wagon driver; a brutal sergeant whom he helped unmask after the war; and the unit's withdrawal to suburban Budapest after Horthy's fall. He describes escaping; joining the Relief and Rescue Committee; obtaining false papers; saving a group of children from deportation; meeting Committee members in a restaurant frequented by Nazis; attending a meeting between Kasztner and Eichmann; and rewarding a Christian for sheltering an escaped Jew. He relates liberation; serving as an interpreter for Soviet troops; reunion with his father in Parkan; work as a foreign correspondent in Prague in 1948; escape from Czechoslovakia in 1954; and his journalism career since arriving in America in 1958.
Extent and Medium
2 videocassettes (3/4" u-matic)
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
- Kasztner, Rezső Rudolf, -- 1906-1957.
- S., Frank, -- 1926-
- Eichmann, Adolf, -- 1906-1962.
Corporate Bodies
- Ṿaʻadat ha-ʻezrah ṿeha-hatsalah be-Budapeshṭ.
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jewish resistance.
- False papers.
- Hungarian occupation.
- Mutual aid.
- Postwar experiences.
- Rescuers.
- Zionist organizations.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
Places
- Czechoslovakia.
- Debrecen (Hungary)
- Štúrovo (Slovakia)
- Transylvania (Romania)
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Parkan (Czechoslovakia)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat