Jack R. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Jack R., who was born in Ri?ga, Latvia in 1925. He recalls a wonderful prewar life; Soviet occupation in 1940; his older brother joining the Soviet military; German invasion in 1941; anti-Jewish violence by Latvians; ghettoization in fall 1941; forced labor; mass killings including his mother and brothers; slave labor with his father sorting possessions of the murdered Jews; the Jewish council and police; arrival of Jews from western Europe; his father's transfer to Lenta in 1943; joining him; encountering a cousin; transfer to Salispils, then back to Lenta; a public hanging of escapees and their parents; boat transfer to Gda?nsk (Danzig), then Stutthof; beatings and killings; transfer to a labor camp; a death march; pooling food and resources with his father and cousin; liberation by Soviet troops; traveling to Lieg?i; fleeing the Soviets; living in Landsberg displaced persons camp and Munich; his father's remarriage; emigration to the United States in 1947; bringing his father and stepmother to the United States in 1949; marriage; and establishing a business and family. Mr. R. discusses sharing his story with his children and students. He shows photographs, a ring he kept throughout the camps, and a book which includes his story.

3 videocassettes