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Oral history interview with Jack Sittsamer

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1990.8.28 | RG Number: RG-50.063.0028

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    Oral history interview with Jack Sittsamer

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Jack Sittsamer, born in Mielec, Poland in December 1924, describes his Orthodox Jewish family; attending Catholic School and Cheder; having many non-Jewish friends; the Nazi invasion, during which the synagogue was burned and there was a roundup of Jews who were then murdered in a slaughterhouse; being made to do forced labor with his family; a selection process in March 1942, during which the weak and old were killed and the others were marched to the airport; being selected to be a worker; the deportation of his mother and siblings and the murder of his father; suffering from typhoid fever for three weeks, which he cannot remember but being taken care of by an inmate; working in a factory until June 1944; being moved to Wieliczka for a week then shipped to Auschwitz; being classified as productive workers and refused by Auschwitz; being sent to Flossenbürg; seeing the piles of shoes upon arrival and realizing it was a death camp; being showered, deloused, and given numbers and suits; going through another selection and being sent to Leitmeritz (Litoměřice), where the Luftwaffe was in control; working on the tunnels for an underground factory; being sent with 400 other prisoners to Mauthausen; the guards in Leitmeritz versus those in Mauthausen; being sent to Gusen II after two weeks; working 12 hour shifts in a factory, going to work sick often; being liberated on May 5th, 1945, at which point he weighed 80 pounds; staying with a woman in Linz, Austria; being helped by Austrians; going to Salzburg, Austria; staying in a refugee camp for a month; staying in a tent city in Bologna, Italy; going to Germany; living with a friend in Eggenfelden, Germany until 1949; registering to go to Australia; immigrating to the United States in 1949 after deciding not to go to Australia; being the only survivor in his family; losing a lot of faith; and how he may have to give a testimony at the trial for a commandant from the Mielec camp.
    Interviewee
    Jack Sittsamer
    Date
    interview:  1989 July 14

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    1 videocassette (VHS) : sound, color ; 1/2 in..

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Sittsamer, Jack.

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh conducted the interview with Jack Sittsamer on July 14, 1989. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received the tape of the interview from the Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh on January 9, 1990.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:10:33
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn508051

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