Nachman Z. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Nachman Z., who was born in Łęczyca, Poland in 1918, one of eight children. He recalls attending cheder; his brothers moving to Łódź; joining them with the rest of his family in 1933; joining Betar; attending their summer camp; working with his brothers in Ruda Pabianicka; German invasion in 1939; fleeing with his brothers as far as Pszczonów; hiding there briefly, then returning to Łódź; entrusting some of their valuables with two non-Jews; forced labor for a day in Kochanówka; a German warning him of a round-up; hiding with a friend; ghettoization in May 1940; living with seventeen others (his brothers and their spouses) in a small apartment with no indoor plumbing (his parents had joined his sisters in Warsaw and none survived); working in the post office and a sausage factory; a meeting with Ḥayim Rumkowski, head of the Judenrat; hiding during round-ups; receiving photographs from his friend Mendel Grossman and hiding them; arranging for Grossman to photograph the child of Aron Jakubowicz, a Judenrat official; being selected with a large group to clean up the ghetto after the final deportation in summer 1944; building a bunker and hiding with five others; liberation by Soviet troops in January 1945; retrieving photographs and papers documenting the ghetto; testifying at the trial of Hans Biebow (the German head of the Łódź ghetto) trial; receiving his family's valuables back from one friend, but not the other; and conveying documents and photographs to the newly formed Jewish Commission on which he worked. Mr. Z. discusses episodes of resistance and punishments; those who judge Rumkowski and the Judenrats; and perspectives and errors of specific historians.
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
- Rumkowski, Mordecai Ḥayim.
- Jakubowicz, Aron.
- Biebow, Hans, -- 1902-1947.
- Grossman, Mendel.
- Z., Nachman, -- 1918-
Corporate Bodies
- Betar.
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- Poland -- Łódź.
- Jewish councils.
- War crime trials -- Poland.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- Postwar experiences.
- Bunkers.
Places
- Poland.
- Łódź ghetto.
- Kochanówka (Poland)
- Pszczonów (Poland)
- Ruda Pabianicka (Poland)
- Łódź (Poland)
- Łęczyca (Łęczyca, Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat