Menashe L. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Menashe L., who was born in Cluj, Romania in 1934, a twin. He recalls his family's affluence; attending cheder and a Neolog school; his father leading prayers in local synagogues; Hungarian occupation; being beaten by Arrow Cross youth; his father and uncles being drafted into Hungarian slave labor battalions; participating in Bene-ʻAḳiva; German invasion in spring 1944; his mother sending him and his twin sister to their grandparents' village; transfer to the Szilágysomlyó (Șimleu Silvaniei) ghetto; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; he and his sister being separated from his grandmother and aunt when they were identified as twins; placement in a barrack where "experiments" were conducted on twins and others by Josef Mengele and his staff; his assignment to deliver food to the barrack; smuggling extra food for his sister and others; his sister's hospitalization resulting from an "experiment"; feigning a toothache to join her; convincing her to return to the barrack; his privileged assignment as a messenger, providing access to many parts of the camp; encountering his aunt; obtaining food and clothing from the Canada Kommando for those in his barrack and a special meal for Rosh ha-Shannah; celebrating Hanukkah; praying with his smuggled siddur; and observing the destruction of a crematorium during a prisoner uprising.

11 videocassettes