Chiel M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Chiel M., who was born in Albigowa, Poland in 1910, one of ten children. He recalls his family's orthodoxy; attending Hebrew school; working in his brother's quarry; his parents' deaths; living in ?a?cut; German invasion; fleeing to Sieniawa; returning home; fleeing to Soviet-occupied Przemy?l; moving to Berez?h?any; German invasion; working with a tinsmith; returning home with a brother and sister; deportation of one sister and her family; fleeing to Przemy?l, then Sieniawa with assistance from a Polish non-Jew; smuggling himself into the ghetto to join his brother; hiding in a bunker with his brother and others during a round-up; leaving the bunker; his brother's arrest (he never saw him again); escaping from the ghetto to join a friend in hiding; being hidden by non-Jews; returning home after liberation; learning he was the sole survivor of his siblings and his extended family of over a hundred people; moving to Rzeszów, Tarnów, then Kraków, fleeing antisemitic violence; living in a displaced persons camp in Italy; assistance from the Joint; living in Rome; sending his rescuers money; visiting them once; and emigration to the United States. Mr. M. notes the importance of luck to his survival and remitting funds monthly to his rescuers, including his reparation payments. He shows photographs.
Extent and Medium
3 videocassettes
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., Chiel, -- 1910-
Corporate Bodies
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Brothers.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- Poland -- Sieniawa (Przemyśl)
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Soviet occupation.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Escapes.
- Refugee camps.
- Mutual aid.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
- Hiding.
- Bunkers.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
Places
- Łańcut (Poland)
- Poland.
- Sieniawa (Przemyśl, Poland)
- Albigowa (Poland)
- Berez︠h︡any (Ukraine)
- Przemyśl (Poland)
- Tarnów (Województwo Małopolskie, Poland)
- Kraków (Poland)
- Rome (Italy)
- Rzeszów (Poland)
- Sieniawa ghetto.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat