Robert B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Robert B., who was born in Grodno, Poland (presently Hrodna, Belarus) in 1928. He recalls his father's conscription into the Polish Army in 1939 (he became a war prisoner in the Soviet Union); German invasion in June 1941; ghettoization in the fall; substituting for his brother for forced labor in Kielbasin; deportation with the last transport from Grodno to Birkenau in 1943; separation from his family, who were selected for death; working as a barber; watching people walk to the gas chambers; hearing shots during the Sonderkommando uprising; helping dismantle the crematoria; the death march to Gross Rosen in January 1945; transfer to Dachau, then Waldlager V; and liberation by United States troops from a train. Mr. B. describes reunion with his father in Bia?ystok; antisemitic violence; fleeing to a displaced persons camp in Italy; and emigrating with his father and stepmother to the United States in 1949. He discusses his belief that the Holocaust resulted from the apathy of many countries and that the killing of millions "made no difference."
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette
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
- B., Robert, -- 1928-
Corporate Bodies
- Gross-Rosen (Concentration camp)
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Waldlager V (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Child survivors.
- Concentration camps -- Revolts.
- Postwar experiences.
- Refugee camps.
- Death marches.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Moral and ethical aspects.
- Jews -- Belarus -- Hrodna.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Italy.
- BiaĹystok (Poland)
- Hrodna (Belarus)
- Poland.
- Kielbasin (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Grodno ghetto.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat