Chaim K. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Chaim K., who was born in Sa?toraljau?jhely, Hungary in 1926, the youngest of eight children. He recalls extreme poverty in an orthodox home; attending yeshiva; pervasive antisemitism; two brothers serving in Hungarian forced labor battalions; German occupation in March 1944; ghettoization; deportation to Auschwitz in April; separation from his parents upon arrival (he never saw them again); transfer to Mauthausen four days later; slave labor constructing underground factories in Gusen; assistance from a German guard; being carried by a friend on the death march to Mauthausen; liberation by United States troops in May 1945; recuperating in Gusen; returning home via Vienna and Budapest, with assistance from the Joint; reunion with his sister in Sa?toraljau?jhely; studying in Budapest; emigrating to Israel in 1948; and joining his brother in Montreal in 1953. Mr. K. discusses conducting services and praying in concentration camps; the importance of faith to his survival; choosing not to take revenge after the war; and sharing his experiences with his children.
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
- K., Chaim, -- 1926-
Corporate Bodies
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
- Gusen (Concentration camp)
- Mauthausen (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Forced labor.
- Faith.
- Jews -- Hungary -- Sátoraljaújhely.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Revenge.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Death marches.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Religious life.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mutual aid.
Places
- Sátoraljaújhely ghetto.
- Israel.
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Sátoraljaújhely (Hungary)
- Vienna (Austria)
- Hungary.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat