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Karel H. Holocaust testimony (HVT-471) interviewed by Sidney Elsner,

Oral History | Digitized | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-471

Overview

Summary: Videotape testimony of Karel H., who was born in approximately 1920. He recalls a carpentry apprenticeship in Ostrava; German occupation; moving to Prague; deportation to Theresienstadt in fall 1941; forced labor as a carpenter; public hangings; pervasive deaths; leadership by Fredy Hirsch and Jacob Edelstein; organized concerts by prisoners; deportation to Auschwitz in September 1944; volunteering as a carpenter after a few weeks; transfer to Gleiwitz; better treatment by the soldiers than the SS; a death march in winter 1944-1945; escaping into the woods; entering Blechhammer after it had been evacuated; Germans returning and randomly machine gunning areas; liberation by Soviet troops in January; transfer to Częstochowa; traveling to his home village, then Prague; reunion with a sister; learning his father and two brothers had perished; and emigration to join relatives in the United States in 1949. Mr. H. discusses nightmares and emotional distress resulting from his experiences and reluctance to discuss them, but his son urging him to record his testimony.
Author/Creator: H., Karel, 1920?-
Published: Cleveland, Ohio : National Council of Jewish Women, Holocaust Archive Project, 1984
Interview Date: December 12, 1984.
Locale: Ostrava (Czech Republic)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Cite As: Karel H. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-471). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Physical Details

Language: English
Copies: 2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Physical Description: 1 videorecording (1 hr., 24 min.) : col

Keywords & Subjects

Subjects (Local Yale): Postwar experiences.
Postwar effects.
Survivor-child relations.
Subjects: Holocaust survivors. Video tapes. Men. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. Forced labor. Concentration camps--Sociological aspects. Concentration camps--Songs and music. Death marches. Escapes. World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities. Nightmares. Ostrava (Czech Republic) Prague (Czech Republic) Oral histories (document genres) H., Karel,--1920?- Edelstein, Jacob,---1944. Hirsch, Fredy,--1916-1944. Theresienstadt (Concentration camp) Auschwitz (Concentration camp) Blechhammer E/3 (Concentration camp)

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
Special Collection: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

Link to Yale University Library Catalog:: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4293836
Record last modified:: 2018-05-30 11:44:00
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4293836

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