Karol P. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Karol P., who was born in Będzin, Poland in 1931, one of seven children. He recalls summers with his paternal grandparents in Wodzisław; antisemitic harassment in public school; German invasion in 1939; round-up with his family; escaping with his sister; her deportation (none of his family survived); imprisonment; escape with assistance from a Polish inmate; entering the ghetto in 1943; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; escaping the group selected for death; a privileged assignment as a messenger; receiving a tailored uniform; assignment to the privileged prisoners' barrack; assisting his uncle; punishment for refusing to beat prisoners; assistance from Desire H. when he was ill; receiving extra food from Simon G.; Jack K. saving many prisoners from death through his office position; a death march; incarceration in other camps including Mauthausen; liberation from Melk by United States troops in May 1945; helping kill an SS soldier; U.S. soldiers caring for him and providing a military uniform; abandonment in France by a U.S. soldier who had promised to adopt him; living in an OSE orphanage; placement with a couple in Paris who wanted to adopt him; refusing adoption in order to continue his family name; attending school; military service in Algeria; marriage; and establishing a business. Mr. P. discusses emotional issues and nightmares resulting from his experiences; willing himself to forget and not discussing his experiences until now; the importance of his will to live and precocity to his survival; losing his belief in God in the camps; and continuing contact with the uncle he helped in Birkenau.

4 videocassettes