Melvin F. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Melvin F., who was born in De?blin, Poland in 1923. He vividly describes the vibrant Jewish community; joyful holiday and Sabbath observances; antisemitic harassment in public school; German invasion; fleeing to Ryki; his parents' and sisters' deaths in a bombing; returning with his grandfather and brother to De?blin; reunion with his other brother; ghettoization; being accused of belonging to the underground; a brutal interrogation; three months imprisonment in De?blin and Lublin; returning home; mass deportations in May 1942; transfer with his brothers to De?blin concentration camp; helping others hide during deportations; public hangings and shootings; helping his brother avoid execution; their transfer to Cze?stochowa; harsher conditions; transfer to Buchenwald; removing bodies from trains; separation from his brothers upon transfer to Tro?glitz; a civilian manager helping him avoid punishment for insubordination; escaping evacuation with a Russian prisoner; posing as non-Jewish, foreign workers in German villages; and liberation by Soviet troops. Mr. F. recalls returning to Buchenwald seeking his brothers; reunion with his younger brother (the other had perished); moving to Switzerland with Red Cross assistance; ORT training; living in Basel, Rheinwald, Lugano, and Zurich; emigrating to the United States in 1950; and meeting his wife while visiting Israel.

3 videocassettes