- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Otto W., who was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1924, one of two brothers. He recounts his parents' orthodoxy; attending public school; expulsion due to antisemitic laws after Slovak independence; he and his brother hiding with an uncle; his parents' deportation to Žilina in 1941; obtaining papers as a non-Jew from a non-Jewish friend; one visit to his parents (he never saw them again); denunciation by an acquaintance; deportation with his brother to Nováky; slave labor; joining the partisans during the Slovak uprising; fighting in Banská Bystrica and other places; his brother's death; attacking German transportation lines; being wounded; capture by the Germans; a friendly soldier sending him to local authorities; many deaths when their transport was attacked by Allied planes; arrival in Melk; transfer to Mauthausen; execution of Allied POWs who had assisted them in Banská Bystrica; transfer to the tent camp; a death march; escape; liberation by United States troops; hospitalization in Steyr; returning to Bratislava; and losing his job due to antisemitism following the Slansky trial. Mr. W. notes chairing a Mauthausen survivor organization, and becoming an atheist as a result of his experiences.
- Author/Creator
- W., Otto, 1924-
- Published
- Bratislava, Slovakia : Milan Šimečka Foundation, 1995
- Interview Date
- November 24, 1995.
- Locale
- Slovakia
Austria
Bratislava (Slovakia)
Žilina (Slovakia)
Banská Bystrica (Slovakia)
Steyr (Austria)
- Cite As
- Otto W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3698). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Salner, Peter, interviewer.
Antalová, Ingrid, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in Slovak.
