Dezider L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Dezider L., who was born in Prešov, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1912, one of three children. He recalls attending local Slovak and Jewish schools, then an academy in Košice; helping in his father's store; his leadership role in Maccabi; Slovak independence resulting in anti-Jewish violence by the Hlinka guard; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau via Žilina and Lublin in 1942; volunteering as a carpenter; a severe infection; a Greek fellow-prisoner obtaining medication and bandages which saved his life; praying with others on Yom Kippur; a death march to Mauthausen in January 1945; beginning to hope he would survive; liberation by United States troops; returning to Prešov via Bratislava, seeking his parents and siblings; reunion with his sister and her child, the only survivors; marriage; and return of family property which was later taken by the communist government. Mr. L. discusses the importance of faith to his survival, which he believes was a series of miracles.
Extent and Medium
1 videocassette
Conditions Governing Access
This testimony is open with permission.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright has been transferred to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Use of this testimony requires permission of the Fortunoff Video Archive.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- L., Dezider, -- 1912-
Corporate Bodies
- Mauthausen (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Hlinkova slovenská l̕udová strana.
- Maccabi World Union.
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Mutual aid.
- Postwar experiences.
- Death marches.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Religious life.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Faith.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- Men.
Places
- Bratislava (Slovakia)
- Lublin (Poland)
- Prešov (Slovakia)
- Austria.
- Žilina (Slovakia)
- Košice (Slovakia)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat