William B. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 2023
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of William B., who was born in Vilna, Poland in 1927. He recalls his immediate family's secularism; his mother's family's orthodoxy; his father's career as a military officer; attending Polish schools; antisemitic harassment; weekly Hebrew lessons; his father's departure when the war began and his return; brief Soviet occupation; Lithuanian independence; favorable conditions for his family; his father's reluctance to emigrate to the United States; spending a summer with relatives in Kaunas; exposure to Jewish life; Soviet occupation; his father's arrest and release; financial difficulties; German invasion; antisemitic regulations; ghettoization; working with his parents for the Luftwaffe which provided access to food and exemptions from round-ups; working in a machine shop (his father joined the ghetto police); his father's death; deportation with his mother to H.K.P. in September 1943; his escape in June 1944; returning to Vilna; visiting his mother disguised as a non-Jew (she was later killed); hiding with a Polish captain who had known his father; liberation by Soviet troops; traveling to ?o?dz?; moving to Prague and Munich; emigration to the United States; and marriage. Mr. B. notes his parentss' focus on education which served him well.

Extent and Medium

4 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

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Places

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.