Simon M. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Simon M., who was born in Ziegenhals, Germany (now G?ucho?azy, Poland) in 1905. He recalls his impoverished childhood in a large family; his father's military service in World War I; completing eight grade; working as a peddler; marriage in 1928; his first son's birth in 1930; living in Breslau when Hitler came to power; serving as a liaison to the Gestapo; helping Jews emigrate; Kristallnacht; arrest and deportation to Buchenwald; release with assistance from an SS officer; receiving help from Jews in Leipzig; returning to Breslau; traveling to Shanghai via Italy in 1939; reunion with his younger brother; working as a peddler, then a wholesaler; forging papers so his wife and three children could join him in 1940; ghettoization; liberation by United States troops in 1945; and emigration with his family to the United States in 1947. Mr. M. discusses the importance of luck to his survival. He notes the deaths of family members in concentration camps and shows photographs.
Extent and Medium
2 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., Simon, -- 1905-
Corporate Bodies
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Jews -- Migrations
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- China -- Shanghai.
- Family.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- False papers.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
Places
- Hongkew ghetto (Shanghai, China)
- Ziegenhals (Germany)
- Germany.
- Głuchołazy (Poland)
- Wrocław (Poland)
- Leipzig (Germany)
- Shanghai (China)
- Hongkou Qu (Shanghai, China)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat