Juraj M. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Juraj M., who was born in 1936 in Tel Aviv, Palestine (presently Israel), the only child of recent Czech immigrants. He recounts returning to Žilina due to his maternal grandmother's illness and his father's poor health; increased antisemitism with the formation of the Slovak state; hiding with non-Jewish friends; betrayal; incarceration in the Žilina camp for one or two months; non-Jewish friends arranging his and his parents' release and false papers; living with them in Rajecké Teplice; leaving for Banská Bystrica during the Slovak uprising; his father joining the partisans and his mother nursing the wounded (he stayed with her); hiding in the woods when Germans approached; a woodsman in Hrončok sheltering them and explaining their presence when Germans asked; moving to Bratislava after liberation; difficulties due to his parents' poor health from their war experiences; his father's decision to remain with his only brother rather than returning to Israel; his mother's sacrifices so he could attend university; marriage; the births of two children; remaining in Slovakia in 1968 because he could not leave his parents alone; his ill health; and working for the Jewish community. Mr. M. discusses difficulty understanding the danger of their situation as a child; his parents often discussing their war experiences; sharing his experiences with his children; his mother's resentment that they did not emigrate to Israel after the war; and his sense that it was a mistake to remain in Slovakia.

1 videocassette