Juraj L. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Juraj L., who was born in Spišská Nová Ves, Czechoslovakia in 1921. He recalls attending public school; moving to Lučenec in 1930; cordial relations with non-Jews; Hungarian occupation in 1938; returning to Spišská Nová Ves; being drafted for forced labor in the Sixth Slovak Brigade in Sabinov; training in Humenné; slave labor in Svätý Jur; using false documents and a Slovak army uniform provided by a guard to visit his family in 1942 (they were all deported shortly thereafter); improved conditions after transfer to Kralovany, then Banská Belá; smuggling extra food to Jews in Bratislava; deteriorating conditions after their supervisors became the Hlinka Guard in May 1943; joining the uprising in Banská Stiavnica; actions in Levice, Žarnovica, and elsewhere; retreating through Banská Bystrica; dissolution of their unit; and living in the Orava region using false papers until the end of the war. Mr. L. discusses the importance of fellow prisoners who raised morale through music, athletics, and contacts with the resistance; specific conditions of the Brigade in various places; the devastating impact of observing deportations and learning their own families had been deported; and losing his entire family.

1 videocassette