- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Shimon S., who was born in 1930 in Łódź, Poland. He recounts ghettoization; his father's fatal shooting; pervasive hunger; stealing food and coal with an organized group of children; deportation to Chelmno; observing Kommandant Hans Bothmann randomly murder Jews for "entertainment"; his assignment with Walther Burmeister to remove gold teeth and valuables from corpses after gassings; finding his mother's purse among the valuables; a visit by Hans Biebow; Burmeister protecting him from selections; a mass execution in retaliation for an escape; taking and sharing food with fellow prisoners; dismantling and destroying the crematorium; execution of the prisoner workers; pretending to be dead after he was shot in the neck; observing a spontaneous revolt of the remaining prisoners (two Germans were killed, including Willi Lenz); escaping; assistance from a Polish farmer; liberation by Soviet troops; hospitalization; returning home (no one survived); joining a kibbutz; emigration to Israel via Italy; serving in the Israeli army; testifying at several war crimes trials, including those of Alois Häfele, Walther Burmeister, Gustav Laabs, Hans Bothmann, and Günter Fuchs; testifying on behalf of Walther Burmeister, at the behest of Gideon Hausner at Eichmann's trial in 1961 (his testimony followed Ka-tzetnik's); and participation in Claude Lanzmann's documentary "Shoah." Mr. S. describes Chelmno's operation in detail; singing there; psychologically adapting to witnessing thousands of murders; his will to survive; frequent depression and nightmares; coping with his wife's support; his wish to transfer the remains of those killed in the final revolt to Israel; and the difficulty of recounting his past in this testimony.
- Author/Creator
- S., Shimon, 1930-2006.
- Published
- Ramat Aviv, Israel : Beth Hatefutsoth, Nahum Goldman Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, 1991
- Interview Date
- June 7, 1991.
- Locale
- Poland
Łódź
Jerusalem
Germany
Łódź (Poland)
Italy
- Cite As
- Shimon S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3326). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Amit, Yoram, interviewer.
Tarsi, Anita, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in Hebrew.
Related publication: Shoah [videorecording] / a New Yorker Films release ; a co-production by Les Films Aleph and Histora Films with the assistance of the French Ministry of Culture ; a film by Claude Lanzmann. Hollywood, CA : New Yorker Video, c2003
Related publication: Shoah : an oral history of the Holocaust : the complete text of the film / Claude Lanzmann ; preface by Simone de Beauvoir ; . -- 1st American ed. -- New York : Pantheon Books, c1985.
