Abraham D. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Abraham D., who was born in Hrubieszo?w, Poland in 1930, the youngest of three brothers. He recalls attending Polish school and cheder; brief Soviet invasion, then German occupation; his father and brothers fleeing to the Soviet zone (he never saw them again); forced relocation; his mother posing as a non-Jew and earning money as a messenger; her disappearance; living with his brothers' friend; hiding with Polish friends when the Jews were liquidated; leaving when his rescuers feared discovery; learning some Jews were taken to Budzyn?; walking there; a privileged kitchen job; feeling "this camp broke" him; Jewish prisoner officials preventing random shootings of others prisoners by preemptively beating them in front of guards; transfer to Majdanek after nine months; a mass shooting of non-Jewish Poles; transfer six months later to Auschwitz for a day, then to another camp; slave labor in a munitions factory; a German civilian worker giving him extra food; a death march and train transport to Mauthausen; Czechs throwing them food; transfer to Theresienstadt; Soviet liberation; "stealing" food from nearby; being taken to Windermere, England via Prague; transfer to a hostel; attending school in Glasgow, then London; and marriage. Mr. D. discuss prewar and camp life in detail; inter-group relations in camps; at times, losing hope despite his will to survive; losing his belief in God; and sharing his experiences with his children, friends, and colleagues.
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. This testimony cannot be used for commercial purposes without prior permission of the donor.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- D., Abraham, -- 1930-
Corporate Bodies
- BudzynĚ (Concentration camp)
- Majdanek (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Mauthausen (Concentration camp)
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- Death marches.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Child survivors.
- Faith.
- Postwar experiences.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Hiding.
- Soviet occupation.
- Mass killings.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Mutual aid.
Places
- HrubieszoĚw (Poland)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Poland.
- Windermere (England)
- Glasgow (Scotland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat