George G. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of George G., who was born in Be?dzin, Poland in 1924. He recalls his close, extended family; celebrating Jewish holidays; speaking Polish at home; participating in a Zionist youth group; attending gymnasium; German invasion; traveling with his father to Warsaw; returning to Be?dzin alone (he never saw his father again); joining Betar; his sister's marriage; Rosh ha-Shanah services in an orphanage (the synagogue had been burned); deportation to a labor camp in Germany in 1941 (he never saw his mother or sister again); transfer to Gross Masselwitz in December, to Klettendorf in November 1942, then to Langenbielau; slave labor in all the camps; transfer to (Sportschule) Reichenbach in December 1944; digging anti-tank trenches; abandonment by the SS; living in Bialawa (Langenbielau); returning to Be?dzin (it was a cemetery to him); learning no family had survived; a brief stay in Katowice; marriage in Bielawa; moving to a displaced persons camp in Salzburg, then to Tirschenreuth and Stuttgart; emigrating to the United States in 1950 with assistance from the Joint and HIAS; and his successful business career. Mr. G. discusses the role of Jewish and non-Jewish supervisors in the camps and his wish that his parents could have seen his success.
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
- G., George, -- 1924-
Corporate Bodies
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
- HIAS (Agency)
- Langenbielau (Concentration camp)
- Betar.
- Gross Masselwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Forced labor.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Refugee camps.
- Child survivors.
- Zionist organizations.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Będzin (Poland)
- Poland.
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Klettendorf (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Reichenbach (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Langenbielau (Poland)
- Salzburg (Austria : Refugee camp)
- Katowice (Poland)
- Bielawa (WaĹbrzych, Poland)
- Tirschenreuth (Germany)
- Stuttgart (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat