Pavel K. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Pavel K., who was born in Borčice, Slovakia in 1938. He recounts deportation with his family to Žilina in 1942; their release due to intervention from a well-connected uncle; living in Bratislava; being hidden by their non-Jewish landlord in 1944; their arrest by Hlinka Guard; his father being tortured and stating their false papers were supplied by a cousin (Jozef K.), who was serving in the partisans so could not be found; deportation to Sered;̕ transport, with his mother, to Bergen-Belsen; her bringing a book and reading to him; starvation; serious illnesses; placement in the infirmary; visits from his mother; she and an uncle obtaining medicine for him; playing with other children; his trauma upon seeing prisoners beaten to death; liberation by British troops in April 1945; recuperating for two weeks; their journey to Prague, then Bratislava; reunion with his brother; and learning his father had perished in Buchenwald. Mr. K. discusses the importance of his mother's optimism and assistance in dealing with constant fear and to his survival; corpses becoming normal in Belsen; his mother's chronic illnesses resulting from Bergen-Belsen; and his painful visit to Bergen-Belsen after his mother's recent death. He shows photographs and memorabilia.

2 videocassettes