Overview
- Interview Summary
- Rudolf Vrba, born in Trnava, Slovakia, describes growing up in Bratislava, Slovakia; identifying as a Slovak; being allowed to attend only eight grades of school because he was Jewish (he was 14 years old when he was no longer allowed to attend school in 1939); anti-Jewish laws that were passed; Jews having to wear a yellow star; the Jewish council, which was in charge of dealing with government agencies; the Zionists; being sent to a transit camp in 1942; the terrible conditions in the train cars on the journey there and the death of some of the passengers; his experiences at Majdanek, where he saw children killed, women clubbed, and bones broken; spending 14 days in the camp then volunteering in June 1942 with 400 other men to go to Auschwitz; the selection process in the camp; his friends who had been in the Sonderkommando before him and were killed; how each day was a fight for the possibility to live another day; the separation of the Sonderkommando from the general prisoners; the attitudes of the Sonderkommandos while they were working; hearing in January 1944 that a large extermination action was being planned and making plans to escape; escaping with his friend Vecla Margovich; being questioned by the Jewish Council in Bratislava, who did not believe at first what he said about Auschwitz; receiving help from the Communist group in Trnava; his return to Bratislava; living with the partisans for about two months (possibly in the fall of 1944); and his thoughts on the war crime trials for Auschwitz guards.
- Interviewee
- Rudolf Vrba
- Date
-
interview:
1972
- Credit Line
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, purchased from the Imperial War Museum Collection
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Extent
-
1 sound cassette : analog.
Rights & Restrictions
- Conditions on Access
- There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
- Conditions on Use
- Restrictions on use. Permission to copy and/or use recordings in any production must be granted by the Imperial War Museums.
Keywords & Subjects
- Topical Term
- Bribery. Communists--Slovakia--Trnava. Concentration camp escapes--Poland. Concentration camp inmates--Selection process. Dysentery. Gas chambers. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. Jews--Slovakia--Bratislava. Jews--Slovakia--Trnava. Kapos. Roll calls. Sonderkommandos. Starvation. Theft. War crime trials. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations. Men--Personal narratives.
- Geographic Name
- Bratislava (Slovakia) Czechoslovakia--History--1938-1945. Oświęcim (Poland) Trnava (Slovakia)
- Personal Name
- Vrba, Rudolf.
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
Imperial War Museum
- Legal Status
- Permanent Collection
- Provenance
- The interview was conducted by Thames Television for the "World at War" Television Series. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum acquired a copy of the interview with Rudolf Vrba from the Imperial War Museum in February 1995.
- Special Collection
-
The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive
- Record last modified:
- 2023-11-16 08:17:15
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn510183
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