Alexander H. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 3438
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Alexander H., who was born in Poland in 1919, the oldest of seven children. He recounts living in Łódź; moving to Sompolno when he was seven; attending public school; his family's participation in the Bund; apprenticing to a tailor; working in Łódź; German invasion; returning home; daily forced labor; traveling with his sister to Łódź, Warsaw, then to Soviet-occupied Białystok; working in Vaŭkavysk until Germany invaded the Soviet Union; walking to Homelʹ; separation from his sister en route; traveling to Kazanʹ, Azerbaijan, Ekaterinburg, then Türkmenabat; draft into a Soviet labor battalion; slave labor in Ekaterinburg, Turkmenbashy, then Baku; working four years with no compensation; finding his sister through the Red Cross; their return to Łódź after the war; leaving in 1946 due to antisemitism; working in an UNRRA refugee camp in Frankfurt; assistance from the Joint; and emigration with his sister to the United States, with assistance from the International Rescue Committee. Mr. H. notes the deaths of his siblings, parents, and other relatives in the Holocaust.

Extent and Medium

1 videocassette

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. This testimony can only be used for education or research and can only be viewed at Yale University.

Rules and Conventions

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Process Info

  • compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

People

  • H., Alexander, -- 1919-

Corporate Bodies

  • International Rescue Committee.
  • International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
  • American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
  • Allgemeyner Idisher arbayṭerbund in Liṭa, Poylen un Rusland.
  • United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.

Subjects

  • Holocaust survivors.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
  • Men.
  • Video tapes.
  • Brothers and sisters.
  • Jews -- Migrations.
  • Jewish refugees.
  • Forced labor.
  • Soviet occupation.
  • Refugee camps.
  • Forced labor -- Soviet Union -- History -- 20th century.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Conscript labor -- Soviet Union.
  • Postwar experiences.
  • Mutual aid.
  • Antisemitism -- Postwar.

Places

  • Frankfurt am Main (Germany : Refugee camp)
  • Baku (Azerbaijan)
  • Sompolno (Poland)
  • Warsaw (Poland)
  • Poland.
  • Łódź (Poland)
  • Homelʹ (Belarus)
  • Kazanʹ (Russia)
  • Białystok (Poland)
  • Vaŭkavysk (Belarus)
  • Türkmenabat (Turkmenistan)
  • Turkmenbashy (Turkmenistan)
  • Azerbaijan.
  • Ekaterinburg (Russia)

Genre

  • Oral histories. -- aat
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.