Josef H. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Josef H., a Romani, who was born in a small village in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (presently Slovakia) in 1911. He recalls his large family; he and his brothers training with their father to be blacksmiths; playing music with his siblings at weddings to earn extra money; meeting his future wife in Prešov; marriage; the births of his children; living in Kapušany; hostility from the local population toward Romanies; internment by Hlinka guard and Germans in a labor camp; hunger, lack of sanitation, and frequent beatings; transfer to another location where conditions improved; escaping; conscription into the Soviet military; discharge; and living with his family in Prague and Most. Mr. H. discusses cordial relations between Jews and Romanies before the war; the local farmers protecting the Romanies in his village of birth; and futile attempts to obtain reparation payments.

1 videocassette