Emanuel S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Emanuel S., who was born in Solotvina, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (presently Ukraine) in 1915, one of ten children. He recalls the observant Jewish community; his family's limited resources; attending cheder, Czech school and yeshiva, then high school in Prague in 1933; being joined by two brothers; attending engineering school in 1937; German occupation; antisemitic measures; working in a rural area; the outbreak of war; obtaining permission to emigrate to Palestine in October 1939 (his brothers had made arrangements through Betar); humiliations inflicted on Jews seeking passports; traveling with his brothers to Bratislava, then to Sulina; a ten-week detention; boarding a ship with over 2,000 Jews (including Eri Jabotinsky, Dov Gruner, and Shimon Shamir) in January 1940; interception by the British; incarceration on the ship in Haifa harbor; transfer to a prison camp in 'Atlit; release with his brothers; living in Rishon le-Tsiyon, then Netanyah; postwar reunion with one brother who survived Auschwitz; and participating in the Israel-Arab War. Mr. S. discusses the killing of his family in Europe; efforts to organize protests against indifference to the Holocaust; his brothers' imprisonments for Irgun activities; and his role in events surrounding the Altalena. He shows photographs.
Extent and Medium
5 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
- Shamir, Shimon.
- S., Emanuel, -- 1915-
- Jabotinsky, Eri, -- 1910-1969.
- Gruner, Dov, -- 1912-1947.
Corporate Bodies
- Altalena (Ship)
- Irgun tseva'i le'umi.
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Brothers.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Zionist organizations.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Israel-Arab War, 1948-1949.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
Places
- 'Atlit (Israel)
- Palestine -- Emigration and immigration.
- Sulina (Romania)
- Bratislava (Slovakia)
- Netanyah (Israel)
- Rishon le-Tsiyon (Israel)
- Austria.
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Solotvina (Ukraine)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat