- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Fred O., who was born in Hrubieszów, Poland in 1909. He describes his family life; growing up in an anti-Semitic environment; medical school in Montpellier, France and the pleasure of being away from the atmosphere in Poland; being compelled to repeat his medical education in Warsaw; and the stress involved with the return to Poland. He recalls the German invasion; working as a doctor in the Warsaw ghetto; the pervasive lice and resulting typhus epidemic; extreme hunger; returning to Hrubieszów; treating a Gestapo agent, then watching him shoot children and old people, and his own feeling of complete powerlessness. He recalls hiding during the last round-up in Hrubieszów; using his connections to save his siblings, but his inability to save his parents; working for a bogus scientific commando with his brothers in Flossenbürg; the death of his brother Felix while en route to Dachau; liberation by American troops; and the revenge taken on the accompanying German soldiers in which he did not participate. He discusses his thoughts about the usefulness of his testimony for others as nothing more than an academic exercise, rather than a vehicle for changing human behavior.
- Author/Creator
- O., Fred, 1909-2002.
- Published
- New Haven, Conn. : Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale, 1987
- Interview Date
- November 18, 1987.
- Locale
- Poland
Warsaw
Hrubieszów
Hrubieszów (Poland)
Montpellier (France)
Warsaw (Poland)
- Cite As
- Fred O. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-943). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Vlock, Laurel, interviewer.
Kline, Dana L., interviewer.
- Notes
-
Unpublished finding aid available in repository; 1/2 in. VHS is linked to finding aid by time coding.
Related publication: I shall live / Henry Orenstein. -- New York : Beaufort Books, c1979.
Additional written material is available in the repository.
Associated material: Henry O. Holocaust testimony [brother] (HVT-942) and Seymour O. Holocaust testimony [brother] (HVT-944); Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
