Robert W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Robert W., who was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1924. He recalls his parents' divorce; his mother's poverty; antisemitic incidents in school; obtaining a scholarship for high school; increased official and public antisemitism beginning in 1939; German occupation in March 1944; Allied bombing; conscription for labor in Va?c; observing boxcars transporting Jews; munitions work in Magyaro?va?r; volunteering for farm work; bribing a sergeant for a transfer to Budapest; obtaining Portuguese passports for himself, his mother, and grandmother; living in housing protected by the Portuguese government; arrest; transfer to Ferto?rakos; a futile escape attempt; forced labor digging trenches; escaping with another prisoner (Ivan R.); their arrest; beating from a German officer in Balf; incarceration in Hidegse?g; transfer to a Gestapo prison in Sopron; receiving extra food from friendly guards; their escape with help from Ivan R.'s friend; purchasing false papers; traveling to Koma?rom and Tokod; their conscription into the Hungarian army; desertion in Su?tto?; a futile attempt to cross the Danube to Soviet lines at Ebszo?nyba?nya; arrest and imprisonment in Dorog; joining the Hungarian Nazis; desertion; liberation by Soviet troops; returning to Budapest; reunion with his mother and family; and emigration to Austria in 1956.
Extent and Medium
4 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
- W., Robert, -- 1924-
Subjects
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Hiding.
- Safe houses.
- Postwar experiences.
- Escapes.
- Mutual aid.
- False papers.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Holocaust survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Conscript labor -- Hungary.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, Hungarian.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Magyaróvár (Hungary)
- Fertőrakos (Hungary)
- Balf (Hungary)
- Budapest (Hungary)
- Hungary.
- Vác (Hungary)
- Süttő (Hungary)
- Tokod (Hungary)
- Dorog (Komárom Megye, Hungary)
- Ebszőnybánya (Hungary)
- Hidegség (Hungary)
- Komárom (Hungary)
- Sopron (Hungary)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat