Kalman A. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 3869
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Kalman A., who was born in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1928, an only child. He recounts attending a Yavneh school; antisemitic harassment; Soviet invasion; attending a Soviet school; German invasion; Lithuanians openly stealing their possessions; his father's round-up (they never saw him again); ghettoization; slave labor at the airport; smuggling food into the ghetto; a selection prior to a mass shooting at the 9th Fort; hiding during the children's selection; a public hanging; transfer to Aleksotas with his mother, aunt, and her children; deportation to Stutthof; separation from his family; transfer to Landsberg; placement in a children's group led by Ze'ev G.; their transfer to Dachau, then Auschwitz/Birkenau one month later; assignment as a camp cleaner, which resulted in receiving extra food; train transfer to Mauthausen in January 1945; a death march to Gunskirchen; hearing about cannibalism; a German soldier giving him food; liberation by United States troops; hospitalization in Wels; transfer by the Jewish Brigade to a hospital in Udine, then Milan; his adoption by a survivor in 1945; their emigration to Israel in 1955; reunion with his aunt (his mother did not survive); marriage; and adopting a child. Mr. A. discusses songs in the ghetto and camps (he sings several); not losing his belief in God; nightmares resulting from his experiences; sharing his experiences with his daughter; and attending reunions of the children's group.

Extent and Medium

9 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.

Related Units of Description

  • Related material: Ze'ev G. Holocaust testimony [friend] (HVT-3886), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Rules and Conventions

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Process Info

  • compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

People

Corporate Bodies

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Places

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.