Sol P. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Sol P., who was born in Pu?tusk, Poland in 1924, the oldest of five children. He recalls German invasion; working on a Polish farm until summer 1941; transfer to the Makow Mazowiecki ghetto; replacing his father for forced labor in December; returning home; his father's death from typhus; transfer to Ciechano?w in May 1942; his family's deportation from Makow; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; help from a Jewish woman after he was beaten; transfer to Buna/Monowitz; improved conditions; return to Birkenau when he had typhus; wanting to commit suicide, but not doing so after he dreamed of his father; public hangings; selection for masonry training; working in the Zigeunerlager (Gypsy Lager) and Canada Kommando (this saved his life); the Sonderkommando uprising; the death march to Gleiwitz in January 1945; transport to Sachsenhausen, Flossenbu?rg, Offenbach, and Donaueschingen; a Polish prisoner registering him and others as Poles; a privileged assignment to the kitchen; train evacuation in April; escaping with two others; liberation by French troops; and living in Landsberg displaced persons camp, then nearby. Mr. P. discusses the emotional devastation of realizing his losses after liberation (none of his family survived); testifying at German war crime trials; pervasive, painful memories; and the importance of intervention in present and/or future genocides.

2 videocassettes