Jozef W. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Jozef W., who was born in Pušovce, then the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, in 1916. He recounts his father's death in World War I; his family's orthodoxy; cordial relations with non-Jews; visiting his grandfather in Chmelov; attending yeshiva in Gelnica, then teachers academy in Prešov; an antisemitic professor; teaching in Levoča; working with Hashomer Hatzair preparing youths to emigrate to Palestine; traveling to Berlin in 1939 to obtain funds to rescue Polish children; smuggling them to Čadca; organizing a communal farm; teaching in Trenčin in 1940; marriage in March 1942; his mother's and stepfather's deportation to Žilina; futile attempts to obtain their release; forced labor in Nováky with his wife; their escape; traveling to her hometown, Rozhanovce, then Košice and Budapest, with help from non-Jews; forging papers; fleeing to Košice after German occupation; traveling to Žilina with help from non-Jews; posing as non-Jews; joining the Slovak uprising; writing for a paper in Banská Bystrica; fleeing the Germans; joining his unit in Košice; and hiding in a forest until liberation by Soviet troops. Mr. W. describes his career as a journalist in Moscow; his son's birth; his wife's suicide; antisemitic discrimination; returning to Bratislava in 1953; and his subsequent career.

4 videocassettes