- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Melvin F., who was born in Dęblin, Poland in 1923. He vividly describes the vibrant Jewish community; joyful holiday and Sabbath observances; antisemitic harassment in public school; German invasion; fleeing to Ryki; his parents' and sisters' deaths in a bombing; returning with his grandfather and brother to Dęblin; reunion with his other brother; ghettoization; being accused of belonging to the underground; a brutal interrogation; three months imprisonment in Dęblin and Lublin; returning home; mass deportations in May 1942; transfer with his brothers to Dęblin concentration camp; helping others hide during deportations; public hangings and shootings; helping his brother avoid execution; their transfer to Częstochowa; harsher conditions; transfer to Buchenwald; removing bodies from trains; separation from his brothers upon transfer to Tröglitz; a civilian manager helping him avoid punishment for insubordination; escaping evacuation with a Russian prisoner; posing as non-Jewish, foreign workers in German villages; and liberation by Soviet troops. Mr. F. recalls returning to Buchenwald seeking his brothers; reunion with his younger brother (the other had perished); moving to Switzerland with Red Cross assistance; ORT training; living in Basel, Rheinwald, Lugano, and Zurich; emigrating to the United States in 1950; and meeting his wife while visiting Israel.
- Author/Creator
- F., Melvin, 1923-
- Published
- New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1992
- Interview Date
- July 20, 1992.
- Locale
- Poland
Dęblin (Warsaw)
Dęblin (Warsaw, Poland)
Ryki (Lublin, Poland)
Lublin (Poland)
Rheinwald Valley (Switzerland)
Lugano (Switzerland)
Zurich (Switzerland)
Basel (Switzerland)
- Cite As
- Melvin F. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1888). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Blinderman, Joni-Sue, interviewer.
