- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Thomas B., who was born in Izbica, Poland in 1927. He recalls deteriorationg conditions after German invasion; Jewish refugees in 1941 who spoke of gassings at Chełmno and the inability to believe this; Izbica's use as a collection point for Jews starting in 1942; the first round-up and transport, ostensibly to L'vov; learning it had gone to Belzec, where there was a big fire and terrible smell; round-ups thereafter; obtaining Polish papers; and attempting to escape to Hungary in January 1943. Mr. B. relates capture and imprisonment; returning to Izbica; transport to the Sobibór extermination camp with his family in April 1943; their selection for gassing; and his assignment as a shoeshine boy. He describes how the October 1943 revolt was organized, executed and his role; escape; hiding in Izbica for five months; betrayal and discovery in April 1944; feigning death to escape; continued pursuit and hiding; his depression upon liberation; and postwar antisemitism. Mr. B. discusses implications of the Sobibór revolt, his conviction that remembering is a form of revenge, and his cooperation with Richard Rashke in documenting the revolt.
- Author/Creator
- B., Thomas, 1927-2015.
- Published
- Los Angeles, Calif. : UCLA Holocaust Documentation Archives, 1983
- Interview Date
- June 19, 1983.
- Locale
- Poland
Izbica Lubelska (Poland)
- Cite As
- Thomas B. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-400). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Kinsler, Florabel, interviewer.
Hadda, Janet, interviewer.
- Notes
-
Related publication: Escape from Sobibor / Richard Rashke. -- Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1982.
