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Ben S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1330) interviewed by Frania Block and Barry Cohen,

Oral History | Digitized | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1330

Overview

Summary: Videotape testimony of Ben S., who was born in Opátow, Poland in 1925. He recalls attending public school and yeshiva; German occupation in 1939; ghettoization including Jews from surrounding areas; deportation in August 1942 with 800 others to Skarz̈ysko-Kamienna; forced labor in the ammunition factory; an injury resulting in blindness in one eye; appells; and brutality and killings by guards. Mr. S. tells of transfer after eighteen months; chaotic conditions in Piotrków; receiving food from a Pole who had worked for his father; transfer to Buchenwald in open rail cars; a German who gave them food; Hitler Youth beating them; marching through Dresden to Terezín; and liberation by Soviet troops in May 1945. Mr. S. graphically details camp conditions, the impact of extreme hunger and notes that his entire family was killed in Treblinka.
Author/Creator: S., Ben, 1925-
Published: Baltimore, Md. : Baltimore Jewish Council, 1989
Interview Date: October 11, 1989.
Locale: Poland
Opatów (Tarnobrzeg)
Dresden (Germany)
Opatów (Województwo Świętokrzyskie, Poland)
Cite As: Ben S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1330). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Other Authors/Editors: Block, Frania, interviewer.
Cohen, Barry, interviewer.

Physical Details

Language: English
Copies: 2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Physical Description: 1 videorecording (1 hr., 46 min.) : col

Keywords & Subjects

Subjects (Local Yale): Child survivors.
Mutual aid.
Aid by non-Jews.
Subjects: Holocaust survivors. Video tapes. Men. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. Jewish ghettos. Jews--Poland--Opatów (Tarnobrzeg) Forced labor. World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities. World War, 1939-1945--Children. Concentration camps--Psychological aspects. Poland. Dresden (Germany) Opatów (Województwo Świętokrzyskie, Poland) Oral histories (document genres) Death marches. S., Ben,--1925- Buchenwald (Concentration camp) Theresienstadt (Concentration camp) Skarżysko-Kamienna (Concentration camp)

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
Special Collection: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

Link to Yale University Library Catalog:: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/1055931
Record last modified:: 2018-06-04 13:27:00
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt1055931

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