Jona J. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Jona J., who was born in Čaňa, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1928, one of six children. He recalls his family's orthodoxy; attending public and Jewish schools; Hungarian occupation; a round-up by Hungarian police; deportation to Košice, then Auschwitz; remaining with one brother; learning of the gas chambers; observing huge fires and smelling a noxious odor; realizing his family had been killed; transfer two weeks later to Kittlitztreben; slave labor building bunkers; Polish non-Jews sharing extra food; hospitalization for pneumonia; obtaining a privileged kitchen assignment after recovering; bringing extra food to his uncle; public hanging of prisoners who attempted an escape; his brother leaving with the evacuation in February 1945; liberation by Soviet troops a few days later; working for the Soviets until May; returning home seeking relatives; finding one cousin; learning his brother had been killed and one sister was in Sweden; moving to Košice; joining Hashomer Hatzair; and illegal emigration to Palestine via Prague and Antwerp. Mr. J. discusses fear that his family would suffer if he fled, and losing his belief in God during the war.

1 videocassette