Mikhail V. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Mikhail V., who was born in Berdychiv, Ukraine in 1928, one of six children. He describes celebrating Jewish holidays; German invasion; ghettoization; his mother hiding him during a round-up; escaping from German soldiers who found him; running to a non-Jewish neighbor who hid him; learning his father had survived the mass killing (his mother and siblings were shot); living with skilled Jewish workers; hiding in the midst of a mass shooting; hearing the screams and shooting (his father was killed); escaping from a policeman who discovered him; hiding in a neighboring village; a stranger who took him to a woman in Terekhova; living with her (she knew he was Jewish); begging for food in surrounding villages; escaping from Ukrainian policemen who would have surrendered him for money; working for a farmer; and staying on a collective farm with prisoners of war until liberation. Mr. V. discusses choosing not to emigrate in order to remain close to family graves; never discussing his experiences because they are too painful; and Ukrainians who killed Jews and others who saved them. He shows mass killing sites in Berdychiv and a memorial erected by the surviving Jews.
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
- V., Mikhail, -- 1928-
Subjects
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Mass killings.
- Escapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Jews -- Ukraine -- Berdychiv.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Child survivors.
- Prisoners of war -- Soviet Union.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
Places
- Berdychiv ghetto.
- Terekhova (Ukraine)
- Berdychiv (Ukraine)
- Ukraine.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat