Avraham B. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Avraham B., who was born in Koněšín, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (presently Czech Republic) in 1906, one of five brothers. He recounts moving to Kunowitz; learning songs from soldiers during World War I; attending school in Uherské Hradiště; participating in Zionist youth groups, including Tehelet Lavan, Makkabi Hatsair, and Maccabi; cordial realtions with non-Jews; studying law in Brno; military training in Litoměrǐce and Terezín; practicing law; German invasion; his father's death; moving to Prague in 1939; working with Jacob Edelstein in the Jewish Agency for Palestine organizing emigration; contact with Karel Fleishman, Dr. Erich Munk, Dr. Ervin Elbert and Otto Zucker; helping his youngest brother emigrate to Palestine in 1940; deportation to Theresienstadt with his mother, brother and sister-in-law, and their child; working as a carpenter; visiting his mother daily; sham improvements for a Red Cross visit and production of a propaganda film; attending cultural events; Rabbi Leo Baeck blessing him when he was deported to Auschwitz; transfer to Kaufering three days later; slave labor felling trees, then cement work; quarantine for dysentery and typhus; remaining with a friend whose relative assigned them privileged work; a death march to Allach; liberation by United States troops; returning to Prague; reunion with one brother and his mother; and working for the Zionist Organisation and the Joint. Mr. B. discusses the camp hierarchies; Edelstein's leadership; friends in the camps; celebrating Jewish holidays and singing in the camps; his belief he survived because he never lost hope; and seldom discussing his experiences until recently. He shows documents, objects, and clothing.

5 videocassettes