Berek O. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Berek O., who was born in Ozorko?w, Poland in 1927, one of four children. He recalls his father's modern orthodoxy; wonderful holiday and family gatherings; attending public school and cheder; German invasion; anti-Jewish restrictions; his older brother escaping east (he never saw him again); ghettoization; transfer to the ?o?dz? ghetto; pervasive starvation and disease; slave labor disposing of human waste; his illness resulting in chronic health problems; deportation to Birkenau; separation from his family (he never saw them again); friends hiding his wounds during selections; transfer to Babice; a death march from Auschwitz to Buchenwald; transfer to Rehmsdorf; a prisoner saving his life by forcing him to work when he broke his foot (those not working were killed); clearing rubble from Allied bombing raids; a death march to Theresienstadt; liberation by Soviet troops; being sent with the first group to Windermere; spending the happiest three months of his life there; living in a youth hostel in Gateshead; learning the upholstery trade in Newcastle; marriage to a survivor in London; and raising two children. Mr. O. discusses continuing friendships and reunions with fellow prisoners; memorial visits to Poland with friends and family; his ongoing grief; and pain caused by Holocaust deniers.
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
- O., Berek, -- 1927-
Corporate Bodies
- Tröglitz (Concentration camp)
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- Jews -- Poland -- Ozorków.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar effects.
- Mutual aid.
- Jews -- Poland -- Łódź.
- Death marches.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Child survivors.
Places
- Newcastle upon Tyne (England)
- Gateshead (England)
- Łódź ghetto.
- Ozorków ghetto
- Poland.
- Windermere (England)
- Ozorków (Poland)
- Babice (Poland : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat