M. P. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of M. P. who was born in Secǒvce, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia), an only child. He recounts visiting his grandparents in Vynohradiv when he was three years old; having to remain in Vynohradiv when it was occupied by Hungary; his father's draft into a Hungarian slave labor battalion in 1941 or 1942 (he did not survive); a neighbor providing them with documents as non-Jews; escaping a round-up; traveling with his mother to Budapest; police raiding their residence; a Jewish man escaping; release with his mother due to their high quality documents; a woman hiding them in her village house; liberation by Soviet troops in November 1944; traveling to Bratislava to join his grandparents; the return of most of his mother's family (her six siblings survived); learning most of his father's family had been killed; attending school; joining the Communist party; and his subsequent careers. Mr. P. discusses his disillusion with communism; identifying as a Jew, but not practicing any religion; a good relationship with relatives in Israel; wanting to recognize their non-Jewish rescuers but not knowing who they were due to his young age; his mother's emigration during the 1968 uprising; the government refusing a travel permit for him to see her; and still feeling threatened as a Jew. He shows photographs.

1 videocassette