Zisha S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Zisha S., who was born in Poland in 1928. He recounts attending local public school with his twin brother; antisemitic harassment; transfer to the school in Gorlice; attending cheder; German invasion; anti-Jewish restrictions, including closing the school; his bar mitzvah; forced relocation with his family to Biecz; hiding with his parents and sister during a round-up in 1942 (his twin brother was taken); mass shooting of Jews; their escape to the forest; encountering his grandfather and aunt; discovery by Germans; deportation with his father to Prokocim (he never saw his sister and mother again); a privileged position in the kitchen; sharing extra food with his father; transfer three months later to another camp, then three months after that to Cze?stochowa; train deportation thirteen months later to another camp; separation from his father when he was sent to Buchenwald; train transport three months later; liberation by United States troops after three weeks; recuperating in a Czech hospital for three months; emigration to England via Prague; living in a convalescent home for two years; learning his father was alive; arranging for his emigration to England; marriage in 1960; and the births of three children.
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
- S., Zisha, -- 1928-
Corporate Bodies
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
- Częstochowa (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Families.
- Brothers and sisters.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Forced labor.
- Escapes.
- Bar mitzvah.
- Fathers and sons.
- Mothers and sons.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Postwar experiences.
- Mutual aid.
- Mass killings.
- Hiding.
- Forests.
- Child survivors.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
Places
- Prokocim (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Gorlice (Poland)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Poland.
- Biecz (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat