Joe D. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Joe D., who was born in Bia?ystok, Poland in 1923. He describes vibrant Jewish life; a boycott of Jewish stores; Soviet occupation in 1939; learning plumbing at an ORT school; German invasion; mass killings; ghettoization; establishment of Jewish factories by the Judenrat under Ephraim Barash's leadership; his father's deportation in 1942; forced labor; hiding with his mother and brothers during deportations in February 1943; his mother's and younger brother's deportation in August; being jailed in Hrodna and ?omz?a with his brother; their deportation to Stutthof in December, then to Birkenau; liquidation of the Zigeunerlager (Gypsy Lager); working with his brother as plumbers in Monowitz; a death march to Gleiwitz in January 1945; their transport to Buchenwald, Holzen, and Bergen-Belsen; witnessing cannibalism; and liberation by British troops. Mr. D. recounts the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp; living in Marburg with his brother; assistance for his wedding from the Joint in May 1946; emigration to the United States in 1949 with assistance from HIAS; and establishing a plumbing business. He notes the importance of plumbing skills to his survival; the shock of separation from his parents and brother, not knowing how and where they perished; and severe depression upon liberation.

2 videocassettes