Henry S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Henry S., who was born in Kraków, Poland in 1923. He recalls attending private school; summer vacations in the mountains; German invasion; the family's flight to Mielec; returning to Kraków; anti-Jewish measures; their move to Kalwaria; volunteering for a labor camp in his brother's place; escaping in 1940; riding to Kalwaria with a Polish driver; fleeing to the Kraków ghetto in order not to endanger his family; transfer to Płaszów; witnessing brutal killings by Amon Goeth; public executions; a futile attempt to be placed on Oskar Schindler's list; transport to Auschwitz in 1942; slave labor; leaving food for a girl he knew in the medical experimentation barrack; a death march in 1944 to Gross-Rosen; transfer to Dachau; and liberation from cattle cars by United States troops in April 1945. Mr. S. recounts recovering in Seeshaupt, then in Feldafing; working as a translator for Generals George Patton and Dwight Eisenhower (he shows photographs); living in Munich; and emigration to the United States in 1947. He discusses the importance of friendship to his survival; ongoing nightmares; trips to Poland; and sharing his experiences with his children.
Extent and Medium
2 videocassettes (betacam sp)
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
- Eisenhower, Dwight D. -- (Dwight David), -- 1890-1969.
- S., Henry, -- 1923-
- Göth, Amon, -- 1908-1946.
- Patton, George S. -- (George Smith), -- 1885-1945.
Corporate Bodies
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Płaszów (Concentration camp)
- Gross-Rosen (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Death marches.
- Human experimentation in medicine.
- Refugee camps.
- Forced labor.
- Nightmares.
- Jews -- Poland -- Kraków.
- Friendship.
- Escapes.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Mutual aid.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
Places
- Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (Poland)
- Seeshaupt (Germany)
- Munich (Germany)
- Kraków ghetto.
- Poland.
- Kraków (Poland)
- Mielec (Poland)
- Feldafing (Germany : Refugee camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat