Israel M. Holocaust tesimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Israel M., who was born in Mannheim, Germany in 1921. He recounts his family's move to Brussels in 1922; moving to Antwerp; his father's bankruptcy in 1930; being supported by his fourteen year-old brother; working as a diamond cutter; German invasion; working with a German refugee (his future wife) smuggling Jews to Belgium; marriage; arrest; incarceration in Antwerp, then Malines; an encounter with Mala Zimetbaum; choosing to remain with his wife when he could have left; his deportation to Laurahu?tte; a Jewish funeral when the first prisoner died, but none thereafter; transfer to Sakrau; not escaping in order to remain with his brother-in-law; transfer to Szopienice; slave labor laying rails; receiving food from British POWs in the Palestine Brigade; transfer to Auschwitz/Birkenau, then Warsaw; clearing rubble from the ghetto; Greek prisoners baking matzos on Passover; finding diamonds which provided medical attention when he was ill, extra food, a job as the kapos's secretary, and help for many other prisoners; transfer to Dachau, then Kaufering; a death march; abandonment by the guards; repatriation; and reunion with his wife. Mr. M. notes many details about fellow-prisoners and camp life. He discusses his continuing nightmares.
Extent and Medium
4 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
- Zimetbaum, Mala, -- 1918-1944.
- M., Israel, -- 1921-
Corporate Bodies
- Malines (Concentration camp)
- LaurahuĚtte (Concentration camp)
- Kaufering (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
- Konzentrationslager Warschau.
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, Belgian.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Family relationships.
- Forced labor.
- Death marches.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Religious life.
- Nightmares.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Mutual aid.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
Places
- Mannheim (Germany)
- Germany
- Antwerp (Belgium)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Szopienice (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Sakrau (Poland : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat