Witold F. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 2146
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Witold F., a non-Jew born in Pleszew, Poland in 1915. He recalls attending school in Chorzo?w, a military academy in Warsaw, and teaching in Silesia; German invasion; military service in Krako?w; being captured by Germans in Tomaszow Lubelski; attempting escape to Czechoslovakia using false papers; incarceration in Krako?w's Montelupich prison; and inclusion in the second transport to Auschwitz in 1940. Mr. F. describes camp life in detail; friends helping him to obtain a job, which included access to many areas; receiving and writing letters home (he shows them); observing construction of the crematoria and gassing of Soviet POWs in 1941; clandestine Catholic services; Maximilian Kolbe volunteering to replace another man to be executed; organization of the prisoner underground; visits by Eichmann and Himmler and the activities of Drs. Mengele and Dering; the Sonderkommando uprising; transfer to Sachsenhausen and Wanzleben; and liberation from a death march. He recounts living in UNRRA's Schwa?bisch Gmu?nd displaced persons camp; marriage in 1945; and emigration from France to Ecuador, then the United States. He discusses continuing nightmares and war crimes trials that resulted in light sentences and acquittals, and shows sketches done by a friend in Auschwitz and family photographs.

Extent and Medium

3 videocassettes (3/4" u-matic)

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

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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.