Ernest S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Ernest S., who was born in Karlovy Vary (Karlsbad), Czechoslovakia in 1923. He recalls pervasive antisemitism; his sister's marriage and move to Plzen? in 1933; German annexation in 1938; immediately moving to his sister's (Plzen? was not annexed); German invasion; his parents sending him on an illegal Youth Aliyah transport to Palestine in 1940; his sister's emigration to England in 1941; enlisting in the Jewish Brigade of the British army; transferring to the Czech army in exile; transport to England; training there and in Scotland; moving through Germany to Czechoslovakia; visiting Theresienstadt; meeting former friends in Plzen? who told him not to bother trying to find survivors; learning his parents were deported and killed; unsuccessful efforts to reclaim family property in Karlsbad; leaving illegally from Prague in 1948; living in Regensburg and Murnau displaced persons camps for Czechs; marriage to a non-Jew who converted; working for the Joint in Munich; and emigration to the United States. Mr. S. discusses how difficult it must have been for his parents to send him away, which saved his life; and continued antipathy for the German language, Germans, and German products.
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., Ernest, -- 1923-
Corporate Bodies
- Great Britain. -- Army. -- Jewish Brigade.
- Jewish Agency for Israel. -- Youth Aliyah Department. -- Mador le-hadrakhah.
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, British.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- Child survivors.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Czech.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Governments in exile.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Czechoslovakia -- Politics and government -- 1938-1945.
- Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic)
- Palestine -- Emigration and immigration.
- England.
- Czechoslovakia.
- PlzenĚ (Czech Republic)
- Karlsbad (Czech Republic)
- Munich (Germany)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Scotland.
- Murnau (Germany : Refugee camp)
- Regensburg (Germany : Refugee camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat