George K. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of George K., who was born in Katowice, Poland in 1926. He recalls his childhood in an assimilated home in Radomsko; increased antisemitism after 1938; the outbreak of war; fleeing with his parents to Lublin; returning to Radomsko; ghettoization; helping Jews forced into the ghetto from surrounding villages; hiding with his parents during the first action; worsening conditions; his parents' arrest; desperate attempts to escape, including to Warsaw; acquiring false papers; and traveling to Munich as a non-Jewish slave laborer. Dr. K. describes posing as a Polish fighter; obtaining legitimate papers; working on a farm and later with a municipal official in Planegg; relationships with Jewish women and Polish workers; Allied bombings of Munich; liberation by United States troops; reunion with his brother from England; volunteering to serve in the Polish army in Paris; reunion with his other brother in Plymouth; emigration with his brothers to Johannesburg; marriage; and emigration to Montre?al, then the United States. He discusses the psychological effects of his experiences; reluctance to share his experiences with his children; and his recent visits to Poland. Dr. K. shows many photographs.
Extent and Medium
2 videocassettes (betacam sp)
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
- K., George, -- 1926-
Subjects
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Child survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Psychological aspects.
- Forced labor.
- Jews -- Poland -- Radomsko.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Mutual aid.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- False papers.
- Hiding.
Places
- MontreĚal (QueĚbec)
- Radomsko ghetto.
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Paris (France)
- Johannesburg (South Africa)
- Lublin (Poland)
- Planegg (Germany)
- Plymouth (England)
- Radomsko (Poland)
- Munich (Germany)
- Poland.
- Katowice (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat