Sam S. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 2605
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Sam S., who was born in Soko?o?w Podlaski, Poland in 1920, one of eleven children. He recalls his parents' butcher shop; attending cheder and Polish school; belonging to Betar; antisemitic harassment; German invasion in 1939, followed by a two-week Soviet occupation; leaving with the Soviets; traveling with a brother and sister to Maladzechna; German invasion in 1941; fleeing to Ivi?a?nets; a mass killing; the round-up of his brother's wife and children (he never saw them again); forced labor; transfer to Dvorets; slave labor; finding weapons abandoned by the Soviets; organizing an escape with his brother and others; joining Soviet partisans in the Naliboki forest; many battles with Germans; coordinated attacks with other partisan units; entering Soviet-controlled territory; separation from his brother; arrest as a German spy; escape; enlisting in the Soviet army; training in Cheli?a?binsk; hospitalization after being wounded; joining a Polish military unit in 1944; returning home; finding his sister's children (they had been hidden by a non-Jew); bringing them to ?o?dz?, then Germany; living in Fu?rth and Neufreimann displaced persons camps; contact with his brother; marriage; emigration to the United States in 1947; and his brother's emigration to Israel in 1948. Mr. S. discusses sharing less violent aspects of his experiences with his children. He shows photographs.

Extent and Medium

2 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

  • S., Sam, -- 1920-

Corporate Bodies

  • Neu Freimann (Displaced persons camp)
  • Betar.

Subjects

  • Survivor-child relations.
  • Aid by non-Jews.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Jewish.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Polish.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Soviet.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, Soviet.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Belarus.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Jewish resistance.
  • Brothers.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
  • Postwar experiences.
  • Partisans.
  • Hiding.
  • Forests.
  • Mass killings.
  • Soviet occupation.
  • Antisemitism -- Prewar.
  • Refugee camps.
  • Holocaust survivors.
  • Escapes.
  • Forced labor.
  • Jews -- Migrations.
  • Refugees, Jewish.
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
  • Video tapes.
  • Men.

Places

  • Fürth (Germany : Refugee camp)
  • Dvorets (Belarus : Concentration camp)
  • Łódź (Poland)
  • Cheli︠a︡binsk (Russia)
  • Poland.
  • Naliboki Forest (Belarus)
  • Ivi︠a︡nets (Belarus)
  • Maladzechna (Belarus)
  • Sokołów Podlaski (Poland)

Genre

  • Oral histories. -- aat
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.