Sol P. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Sol P., who was born in Pu?tusk, Poland in 1924, the oldest of five children. He recalls German invasion; working on a Polish farm until summer 1941; transfer to the Makow Mazowiecki ghetto; replacing his father for forced labor in December; returning home; his father's death from typhus; transfer to Ciechano?w in May 1942; his family's deportation from Makow; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; help from a Jewish woman after he was beaten; transfer to Buna/Monowitz; improved conditions; return to Birkenau when he had typhus; wanting to commit suicide, but not doing so after he dreamed of his father; public hangings; selection for masonry training; working in the Zigeunerlager (Gypsy Lager) and Canada Kommando (this saved his life); the Sonderkommando uprising; the death march to Gleiwitz in January 1945; transport to Sachsenhausen, Flossenbu?rg, Offenbach, and Donaueschingen; a Polish prisoner registering him and others as Poles; a privileged assignment to the kitchen; train evacuation in April; escaping with two others; liberation by French troops; and living in Landsberg displaced persons camp, then nearby. Mr. P. discusses the emotional devastation of realizing his losses after liberation (none of his family survived); testifying at German war crime trials; pervasive, painful memories; and the importance of intervention in present and/or future genocides.
Extent and Medium
2 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
- P., Sol, -- 1924-
Corporate Bodies
- Sachsenhausen (Concentration camp)
- Monowitz (Concentration camp)
- Birkenau (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Landsberg am Lech (Displaced persons camp)
- Flossenbürg (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Jewish ghettos.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Child survivors.
- Concentration camps -- Underground movements.
- War crime trials -- Germany.
- Postwar experiences.
- Postwar effects.
- Mutual aid.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Death marches.
- Escapes.
- Refugee camps.
- Jews -- Poland -- Makow Mazowiecki.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
Places
- Ciechanów (Poland)
- Makow Mazowiecki (Poland)
- Pułtusk (Poland)
- Poland.
- Donaueschingen (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Offenbach (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Gleiwitz (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Makow Mazowiecki ghetto.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat