Hanoch V. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Hanoch V., who was born in Vilna, Poland (presently Vilnius, Lithuania) in 1920, the oldest of five children. He recounts attending a Jewish school; antisemitic harassment; working in a leather store; active participation in Hashomer Hatzair (Abba Kovner was his group's leader); Lithuanian independence; fleeing briefly to relatives in Lida and Maladzechna; returning home; German invasion; killing of Jews; fleeing to Ashmi︠a︡ny; returning when he was caught; ghettoization; forced labor in a dairy factory; smuggling food; obtaining a pistol; participating in the organized resistance; contacts with Yiżḣak Wittenberg; hiding in a bunker with his family for two months; discovery; escape to the forest; joining the partisans; battles with Germans and the Armia Krajowa; executing captured German soldiers; cooperating with Soviet partisans; liberation by Soviet troops; assignment to locate war criminals in Kaliningrad; returning home; marriage; the births of two daughters; and emigration to Israel in 1957. Mr. V. notes revenge was one of his motivations in the partisans and postwar period.
Extent and Medium
4 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
- Kovner, Abba, -- 1918-1987.
- Wittenberg, Yiżḣak, -- 1907-1943.
- V., Hanoch, -- 1920-
Corporate Bodies
- Poland. -- Polskie Siły Zbrojne. -- Armia Krajowa.
- World Hashomer Hatzair.
Subjects
- Bunkers.
- Hiding.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Soviet occupation.
- Postwar experiences.
- Partisans.
- Forests.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jewish resistance.
- Revenge.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- Lithuania -- Vilnius.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Vilna ghetto.
- Poland.
- Vilnius (Lithuania)
- Ashmi︠a︡ny (Belarus)
- Kaliningrad (Kaliningradskai︠a︡ oblastʹ, Russia)
- Lida (Belarus)
- Maladzechna (Belarus)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat