Berl G. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 3051
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Berl G., who was born in Vilkija, Lithuania in 1919. He recounts moving to Kaunas; his younger brother's death; belonging to Betar; Soviet occupation; German invasion in 1941; fleeing with his family to Ukmerge?; returning to Kaunas; mass killings by Lithuanians; ghettoization; forced labor at the airport; a mass killing on October 28, 1941 which included his parents; remaining with his brother and sister-in-law; their assignment to a work brigade outside the ghetto; organizing resistance with assistance from the Judenrat and Jewish police; escaping with a small group; capture; imprisonment; assignment to the Ninth Fort to unearth and burn bodies from mass killings; escaping to the ghetto on Christmas Eve; hiding with a friend; escaping to partisans in the forest; learning his brother had just been killed; he and his sister-in-law executing his brother's betrayers; liberation in July; liberating Vilnius; marriage in 1945; learning his family of eighty-five had all been killed; and emigration to Canada in 1949. Mr. G. discusses thinking about escape as a coping mechanism in the Ninth Fort and seldom sharing his experiences since they are so hard to believe, but speaking with those who are interested, including his 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

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Corporate Bodies

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.