Charles S. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Charles S., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland in 1927, one of five children. He recounts his father's orthodoxy; joyous celebrations of sabbath and Jewish holidays; attending public school and cheder; visiting grandparents in Kielce and Warsaw; antisemitic harassment; German invasion; his brother's flight to the Soviet Union (he survived); forced relocation with his family to Rzeszo?w; joining relatives in ?an?cut, Krako?w, then Warsaw; receiving letters from his brother; ghettoization; his father's death; smuggling goods into the ghetto to support his family; escaping with his younger brother; working on a farm; bringing food to his family via Otwock; one sister's death; his mother joining them (one sister remained in the ghetto); sneaking into the Radom ghetto; being shot in the leg while escaping; walking to Opato?w; a Jewish man bringing him to his uncle in Staszo?w (his mother and brother were to join them); hospitalization; working in his uncle's tannery; hiding during round-ups; being caught; deportation to Kielce; privileged work in the kitchen; transfer to a munitions factory as punishment for supplying potatoes to other prisoners; transfer to Cze?stochowa in 1944; sabotaging factory machinery; transfer to Buchenwald; clearing bombed areas in Weimar; transfer to Theresienstadt; liberation by Soviet troops; visits to Prague while recuperating; emigration to England, with assistance from the Joint; and living in a children's home in Windermere, then other hostels. Mr. S. discusses contacting the farmer with whom he and his family hid and learning his mother and brother were deported; maintaining his faith, although not his orthodoxy; visiting Poland; and sharing his experiences with his children.

3 videocassettes