Lipa A. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Lipa A., who was born in Bia?ystok, Poland in 1927. He recalls a wonderful childhood; antisemitic harassment; Soviet occupation in 1939; persecution as factory owners; learning his father's arrest was imminent; moving to Vilkavis?ykis; German invasion; moving to Narva, then the Bia?ystok ghetto; attending a school organized by the ghetto head, Barash; smuggling food for his family; the birth of his brother's daughter; building a bunker; hiding during round-ups; his brother, his wife, and daughter not hiding during the final liquidation in August 1943; being discovered; observing dead bodies all over (there had been an uprising); separation of genders; train transport to Treblinka where the women and children were unloaded (he never saw his mother or sister again); continuing to Majdanek; preventing his father's suicide; encountering his brother; separation from his brother when they were transferred to Bliz?yn (they never saw him again); helping his father when he was ill; his death in December; losing hope; transfer to P?aszo?w, Mauthausen, Melk, and Ebensee; a Romani who assisted him; being injured by a friend for "stealing" food from him; liberation by United States troops in May 1945; Soviet prisoners killing kapos and others for revenge; his injury not healing; traveling to Florence; and emigration to Palestine. Mr. A. discusses recently traveling to Europe with his son, visiting the camps and towns where he had lived; dislike of politicizing and commercializing the Holocaust; continuing relations with camp friends; admiration for Barash, head of the Bia?ystok ghetto; and many details of camp and ghetto life.

6 videocassettes