Avraham B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Avraham B., who was born in Koněšín, Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (presently Czech Republic) in 1906, one of five brothers. He recounts moving to Kunowitz; learning songs from soldiers during World War I; attending school in Uherské Hradiště; participating in Zionist youth groups, including Tehelet Lavan, Makkabi Hatsair, and Maccabi; cordial realtions with non-Jews; studying law in Brno; military training in Litoměrǐce and Terezín; practicing law; German invasion; his father's death; moving to Prague in 1939; working with Jacob Edelstein in the Jewish Agency for Palestine organizing emigration; contact with Karel Fleishman, Dr. Erich Munk, Dr. Ervin Elbert and Otto Zucker; helping his youngest brother emigrate to Palestine in 1940; deportation to Theresienstadt with his mother, brother and sister-in-law, and their child; working as a carpenter; visiting his mother daily; sham improvements for a Red Cross visit and production of a propaganda film; attending cultural events; Rabbi Leo Baeck blessing him when he was deported to Auschwitz; transfer to Kaufering three days later; slave labor felling trees, then cement work; quarantine for dysentery and typhus; remaining with a friend whose relative assigned them privileged work; a death march to Allach; liberation by United States troops; returning to Prague; reunion with one brother and his mother; and working for the Zionist Organisation and the Joint. Mr. B. discusses the camp hierarchies; Edelstein's leadership; friends in the camps; celebrating Jewish holidays and singing in the camps; his belief he survived because he never lost hope; and seldom discussing his experiences until recently. He shows documents, objects, and clothing.
Extent and Medium
5 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
- Zucker, Otto.
- Edelstein, Jacob, -- -1944.
- B., Avraham, -- 1906-
- Elbert, Ervin.
- Munk, Erich.
- Fleishman, Karel.
- Baeck, Leo, -- 1873-1956.
Corporate Bodies
- Gordonyah--Makabi ha-tsaʻir (Association)
- Maccabi World Union.
- Jewish Agency for Palestine.
- Zionist Organisation.
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
- Kaufering (Concentration camp)
- Allach (Concentration camp)
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Zionists.
- Forced labor.
- Family.
- Mothers and sons.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Postwar experiences.
- Mutual aid.
- Concentration camps -- Songs and music.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Brothers.
- Death marches.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Concentration camp inmates -- Religious life.
Places
- Terezín (Severočeský kraj, Czech Republic)
- Prague (Czech Republic)
- Koněšín (Czech Republic)
- Kunovice (Czech Republic)
- Austria.
- Litoměřice (Czech Republic)
- Uherské Hradiště (Czech Republic)
- Brno (Czech Republic)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat