Judah V. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 2137
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Judah V., who was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1925. He recalls attending a Jewish school; antisemitic harassment; apprenticing to a milliner; German invasion; frequent round-ups; his father's exemption due to his job; his father hiding him and his sister during a round-up in spring 1943 (they were not covered by the exemption); his parents and two younger siblings being taken despite the exemption; posing as staff of the Jewish council to see his family in the Schouwberg (the theater used to hold Jews in Amsterdam prior to their deportation); his father's instructions to care for his sister; giving himself up to join her when she was taken; deportation to Westerbork, then Vught; return to Westerbork; transport to Auschwitz; assignment to the Sonderkommando sorting clothing; having to pull bodies from the gas chamber a few times; volunteering to be a boxer; transfer to Monowitz; boxing to entertain the Germans; receiving extra food; making bricks after he stopped boxing; beatings which resulted in permanent injuries; working with Italian civilians; scrounging cigarette butts from English POWs to trade for food; transfers and death marches to Gleiwitz, Dachau, Crawinkel, Oberhausen, and Buchenwald; liberation by American and Canadian troops; treatment by the Red Cross; transfer to Holland; hospitalization for tuberculosis; reunion with his aunt; emigration to England in 1950; marriage; and raising three children. He discusses receiving compensation; sharing his story with his children; and losing his religious beliefs in camp, but recovering them due to his children. He shows photographs and his camp trousers.

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. Any commercial use of this testimony requires further authorization.

Rules and Conventions

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Process Info

  • compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

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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.