Theodore M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Theodore M. who was born in Lʹviv, Poland in 1920. He recalls completing high school; antisemitic violence; German invasion in 1941; escaping from a mass shooting by carrying bodies; obtaining extra food for his uncles from a German woman; his father obtaining work papers for all of them except his mother; hiding during the day; arrest with his parents; incarceration in Janowska; his mother giving him her wedding band (he never saw her again); his father arranging their escapes and for false papers; traveling to Kraków; working as a painter; moving to Częstochowa, fearing exposure; living with a Polish woman; marriage to her in a Catholic church in September 1944 (he told her he was Jewish); communicating with his sister (she was in Germany posing as a non-Jew); reunion with his father and sister after liberation; hearing antisemitic remarks from Poles who did not know he was Jewish; and emigration to the United States. Mr. M. discusses his and his family's loss of faith due to their experiences and identifying himself as a Jew due to his granddaughter. He shows photographs.
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
- M., Theodore, -- 1920-
Corporate Bodies
- Janowska (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Fathers and sons.
- Escapes.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Mass killings.
- Mutual aid.
- False papers.
- Interfaith marriage.
- Husband and wife.
- Faith.
- Identification (Religion)
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
Places
- Lʹviv (Ukraine)
- Częstochowa (Poland)
- Kraków (Poland)
- Poland.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat