Samson M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Samson M., who was born in Poland in 1913 to a Hasidic family of seven children. He recalls their poverty; joyous holiday celebrations; antisemitic harassment at school; apprenticeship as a shoemaker in Seitesz; moving to Krako?w; German invasion; escaping east with his brother; Germans overtaking them; staying in Izbica; Soviet troops arriving; their withdrawal; leaving with them; living in L?viv; finding two of his brothers there; volunteering to work in a Soviet coalmine; harsh conditions; escaping with a friend; traveling to Kiev, then L?viv; volunteering for labor in the east; working for a year in Semei?; one of his brothers joining him; traveling to Moscow; military draft; digging trenches outside Leningrad (St. Petersburg); escaping; joining the Polish military in Saratov; assignment to Tashkent; attending military school in Moscow; fighting from Warsaw to Belgium; assignment to Lublin after the war; searching for German soldiers; reunion with a brother and sister; traveling to Krako?w; hearing of antisemitic violence; traveling to Prague, then Munich; living in Landsberg displaced persons camp; assistance from the Joint; marriage; emigration to the United States; the births of two children; and his wife's death. Mr. M. discusses reunions in the U.S. and Israel with people from his Polish town and sharing his experiences with his children.
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. This testimony can only be used for educational purposes.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- M., Samson, -- 1913-
Corporate Bodies
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
- Landsberg am Lech (Displaced persons camp)
Subjects
- Refugees, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Postwar experiences.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Soviet.
- Refugee camps.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Polish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Brothers.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Soviet occupation.
Places
- Semeĭ (Kazakhstan)
- Kiev (Ukraine)
- Saratov (Russia)
- Saint Petersburg (Russia)
- Moscow (Russia)
- Tashkent (Uzbekistan)
- Lublin (Poland)
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Munich (Germany)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Izbica Lubelska (Poland)
- Lʹviv (Ukraine)
- Poland.
- Sietesz (Poland)
- Kraków (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat