Israel Z. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Israel Z., who was born in S?omniki, Poland in 1922, the youngest of four children and only son. He recalls his family's affluence; their Hasidic orthodoxy; attending public school and cheder; antisemitic harassment; attending high school in Krako?w; German invasion; arrest with his father; transfer to Miecho?w; execution of his father and another man; burying them; returning home; his mother and sisters hiding with non-Jews, obtaining false papers, and living as non-Jews; deportation to Bierzano?w; death losing meaning for him; mass killings as reprisals for escape attempts; transfer to Prokocim; helping his father's friend; transfer to P?aszo?w, then Skarz?ysko; learning his youngest sister was there; sharing extra food with her and her friend (his future wife); transfer to Cze?stochowa, Sulejo?w, back to Cze?stochowa, Buchenwald, Laura, Dachau, and Allach; train evacuation; liberation by United States troops; living in Pasing; assistance from UNRRA; working for the U.S. military; reunion with his sister; living with her in Munich; reunion with his future wife in Landsberg displaced persons camp; emigration to join relatives in England in 1947; marriage in 1948; and raising two daughters. Mr. Z. notes his mother and other sisters were killed, and seldom discussing his experiences with his family. 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
- Z., Israel, -- 1922-
Corporate Bodies
- Landsberg am Lech (Displaced persons camp)
- Allach (Concentration camp)
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
- Laura (Concentration camp)
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
- Częstochowa (Concentration camp)
- Skarżysko-Kamienna (Concentration camp)
- Płaszów (Concentration camp)
- United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.
Subjects
- Aid by non-Jews.
- False papers.
- Mass killings.
- Mutual aid.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Forced labor.
- Sisters.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Hiding.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
Places
- Miechów Lubelski (Poland)
- Kraków (Poland)
- Słomniki (Poland)
- Poland.
- Munich (Germany)
- Pasing (Germany)
- Bierzanów (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Prokocim (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Sulejów (Poland : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat