Robert W. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 3061
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Robert W., who was born in Skarz?ysko-Kamienna, Poland in 1931, the youngest of six childen. He recalls antisemitic harassment; German invasion; a public hanging; ghettoization; his father arranging for him to hide with non-Jews; returning to rejoin his family; his mother's deportation; being smuggled into the labor camp by his brothers; slave labor; sharing extra food received from a civilian worker with his brothers, father, or sister; his father hiding him when he was sick; his father arranging his escape to the partisans; returning due to antisemitic hostility from the partisans; transfer to dig anti-tank ditches near Przedbo?rz, then to Cze?stochowa (he never saw his family again); slave labor in a munitions factory; transfer with a friend to Buchenwald; categorization as political prisoners resulting in preferential treatment; liberation by United States troops; assistance from the Red Cross; living in an OSE home in Paris; learning his family had perished; acting out his rage with other children; counseling; and emigration to Canada. Mr. W. discusses numbing himself in the camps; losing his belief in God; not discussing his experiences for many years; sharing them with his children when they were older; and recently speaking in schools. He shows photographs.

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

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Genre

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.