Victor C. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Victor C. (accompanied by his daughter Belinda) who was born in Strzemieszyce Wielke, Poland in 1914. He relates his father's death; the family's move to Sosnowiec; extreme poverty; his mother's efforts to raise and educate four sons; studying in Krako?w; being drafted into the Polish army in 1939; being taken as a prisoner-of-war; and his escape. He describes returning to Strzemieszyce; his marriage; the birth of his child; ghetto conditions and organization; transfer with his family to Be?dzin; forced labor; transfers to many camps; the variety of conditions and organizational structures within the camps; finding his brother in Marksta?dt; transfer to Gross Rosen; the agonizing memory of leaving his dying brother; evacuation to Flossenbu?rg, then to Buchenwald; the Buchenwald to Dachau death march and his escape; aid by foreign workers and peasants; and hospitalization by the American army. Mr. C. recalls learning of the deaths of his wife and child; organizing displaced persons in Bavaria after his recovery; assisting in the illegal immigration to Palestine; and his emigration to the United States. In this unusually detailed and vivid testimony Mr. C. reflects upon the Holocaust; media portrayal of it; and the history and destiny of the Jewish people.
Extent and Medium
6 videocassettes (3/4" u-matic)
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
- C., Victor, -- 1914-
Corporate Bodies
- Flossenbürg (Concentration camp)
- Gross Rosen (Concentration camp)
- Crawinkel (Concentration camp)
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
- Markstädt (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Jews -- Poland -- Będzin.
- Jews -- Poland -- Strzemieszyce Wielkie.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Moral and ethical aspects.
- Forced labor.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Prisoners of war -- Poland.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- vPersonal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Wife -- Death.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Children of Holocaust survivors.
- Children -- Death.
- Death marches.
- Jewish councils.
- Brothers.
- Refugee camps.
Places
- Kraków (Poland)
- Będzin (Poland)
- Strzemieszyce ghetto.
- Sosnowiec (Województwo Śląskie, Poland)
- Srodula ghetto.
- Będzin ghetto.
- Poland.
- Strzemieszyce Wielkie (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat