Henry Z. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Henry Z., who was born in Radom, Poland in 1925. In an exceptionally detailed and descriptive testimony, Mr. Z. recalls his traditional family of seven children; anti-Semitic incidents; his father's death; German invasion; anti-Jewish measures; ghettoization; the roles of the Judenrat and Jewish police; smuggling food with assistance from his father's Polish business contacts; hiding to escape work details; family efforts to protect each other; his two brothers' disappearance in 1942; round-ups and transports; evacuation of the Jewish hospital, murder of the patients, and assisting in their burial; being forced to desecrate Torahs; learning of Treblinka; and finding out a sister went on a transport rather than give up her baby. He describes forced labor; a failed escape; working for the S.S. in Szwarlikowska and Szkolna; a forced march to Tomaszo?w Mazowiecki; deportation to Auschwitz; transfers to Birkenau, Vaihingen, Unterriexingen, and Kochendorf; a death march to Dachau; transport to the Tyrol in April 1945; escape with eight others; liberation by American troops; working for the United States Army; reunion with his two sisters; and emigration to Canada in 1948. Mr. Z. tells of testifying at a war crimes trial in 1972 in Hamburg and family visits to Poland.
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
- Z., Henry, -- 1925-
Corporate Bodies
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Kochendorf (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- War crime trials.
- Forced labor.
- Jews -- Poland -- Radom (Województwo Mazowieckie)
- Jewish ghettos.
- Family.
- Brothers and sisters.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Child survivors.
- Mass killings.
- Mutual aid.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Jewish councils.
- Death marches.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Escapes.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Postwar experiences.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
Places
- Unterriexingen (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Radom ghetto.
- Vaihingen (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Radom (Województwo Mazowieckie, Poland)
- Tomaszów Mazowiecki (Poland)
- Poland.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat