Erwin S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Erwin S., who was born in Sa?rospatak, Hungary in 1924, the oldest of four sons. He recalls German invasion in spring 1944; train transport to a ghetto; deportation to Auschwitz; remaining with his next youngest brother; transfer to Dachau after a week, then to Rothswaige the next day; reciting prayers to himself during appell; assistance from a Greek prisoner; receiving extra food from some German guards; transfer to Allach; hospitalization; being saved from selections due to his brother's privileged position; prisoners singing Kol Nidrei on Yom Kippur; liberation from a train by United States troops; declining to kill a guard (he wonders to this day if he should have); staying in Feldafing displaced persons camp; returning home; beginning a business; reunion with another brother; traveling to Landsberg displaced persons camp intending to join relatives in the United States; and emigration. Mr. S. discusses becoming more religious as a result of his experiences; crying twice in camp, when he first had lice and when they ate a dog; and the importance of helping each other to prisoner survival. He shows photographs.
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., Erwin, -- 1924-
Corporate Bodies
- Dachau (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Landsberg am Lech (Displaced persons camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Revenge.
- Faith.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Religious life.
- Forced labor.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Brothers.
- Hospitals in concentration camps.
- Mutual aid.
Places
- Hungary.
- Feldafing (Germany : Refugee camp)
- SaĚrospatak (Hungary)
- Rothschwaige (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Allach (Germany : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat