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George G. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1398) interviewed by Alan Lucas and Alice Epstein,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1398

Videotape testimony of George G., who was born in Łódź, Poland in 1921. He describes being the oldest child of three in a traditional family; the family move to Poznań; anti-Semitic incidents in public school and law school (he attended for only three months due to the outbreak of the war); returning to Łódź in September 1939; ghettoization in 1940; forced labor managing a clothing factory; Ḥayim Rumkowski's role; starvation and epidemics; round-ups, first of the sick, then of entire areas; buying black market food to enable his family's survival; and mass deportations in 1943. Mr. G. recalls liquidation of the ghetto in 1944; deportation to Auschwitz with his family; selection of his mother and brother and soon learning their fate; stealing potato peels from the garbage for himself and his father; the death march to Kaltwasser; liberation; returning to Łódź to seek surviving family; learning that of his family of 140 members, only he and his father survived; and meeting his future wife. Mr. G. tells of returning to Germany; his marriage in 1946 in a displaced persons camp; emigration to the United States in 1949; his reluctance to discuss the Holocaust with his children; and a 1986 trip to Auschwitz to recite "kaddish."

Author/Creator
G., George, 1921-
Published
Ventnor, N.J. : Federation of Jewish Agencies of Atlantic County/Stockton State College, Holocaust Oral History Project, 1989
Interview Date
May 11, 1989.
Locale
Poland
Łódź
Łódź (Poland)
Poznań (Poland)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
George G. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1398). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.