Chaim L. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Chaim L., who was born in Szreńsk, Poland in 1923, one of six children. He recounts moving to Mława when he was about four; his family's poverty; their move to Iłowo; antisemitic harassment at public school; his mother visiting her family in Szreńsk with the four younger children; German invasion in September 1939; joining his mother and siblings with his brother and father; his father's return to Iłowo with his younger brother to retrieve belongings; his father's murder by Germans en route; anti-Jewish restrictions; round-up for forced labor in Ciechanów; returning home; his youngest brother's death in his arms from illness; transfer with his family to the Mława ghetto in December 1941; the marriages of two cousins; deportation with his family to Auschwitz in November 1942; separation from his mother and sister; encountering a cousin; transfer to Buna/Monowitz which resuled in separation from his brother; slave labor for IG Farben; hospitalization in January 1943; surgery on his leg; a German prisoner caring for him; assignment to a privileged position recycling clothing of murdered Jews; trading valuables he found for extra food that he shared with his friend and other prisoners; encounters with English and Soviet prisoners of war; his brother sending him a sweater; a death march, then train transfer to Dora in January 1945; losing his friend en route; slave labor in a munitions factory; public hangings; transfer to Bergen-Belsen in April; liberation by British troops; leaving three weeks later; traveling in Germany; debarking from a train in Liège; remaining there; marriage; locating his brother through the Red Cross; and their reunion. Mr. L. discusses many details of camp life; nightmares and health issues resulting from his experiences; sharing his story with his children and grandchildren; visiting Szreńsk with his son; and the importance of luck and assistance from others to his survival.

7 videocassettes