Martin H. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 2385
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Martin H., who was born in 1929 in a small village, one of four children. He recalls his family's affluence; moving to Prague; recuperating from an illness in Banin; living with his grandparents in his birth village due to his health; attending cheder and public school; his younger brother joining him in 1938; Hungarian occupation; illegally traveling to Budapest; living with a Jewish family in IV. Keru?let; becoming ill; admission to a Joint hospital; returning to his birth village; ghettoization in Khust; hiding with his brother; round-up to the train station; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation from his brother and grandmother; transfer to Monowitz; rebuffing a kapo's homosexual advances; a severe beating; transfer to Gleiwitz; privileged work in the kitchen; the Kommandant's wife giving him extra food; British POWs giving him extra food; a death march to Gross-Rosen; a guard giving him food; execution of a group that attempted escape; train transfer to Buchenwald; observing cannibalism; assignment to the kitchen; smuggling extra food to fellow prisoners; liberation by United States troops; returning to Prague seeking relatives; working as a translator for the United States military in Germany; emigration to London on a children's transport; becoming a diamond cutter, then a professional bridge player; and marriage. Mr. H. notes the importance of luck to his survival; learning his family had been killed; and nightmares resulting from his experiences.

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

Corporate Bodies

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.