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Morris K. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1431) interviewed by Lawrence L. Langer,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1431

Videotape testimony of Morris K., who was born in 1926 in Łódź, Poland. He recalls German invasion; being caught in a round-up in December 1939; forced labor near Hamburg; transfer to Poznań in March 1941 when it was discovered he was Jewish; transfer to the Łódź ghetto in February 1943; reunion with his father; and deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau several days later. Mr. K. tells of a privileged work assignment obtained through a friend; two weeks in the punishment camp in March 1944; transfer to the Sonderkommando; working at the cremation pits into which guards threw living children; a friend who buried written accounts in the ashes (some were later recovered); execution of prisoners who attempted escapes; Josef Mengele's laboratory; the mass shooting of 300 children, of which he still dreams; the Sonderkommando revolt in October; dismantling the crematoria; the death march to Mauthausen, then Ebensee in January 1945; working in mines; and liberation by United States troops. He recounts living in Feldafing and Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp; marriage in 1946; living in Marburg and Stuttgart; his son's birth; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Mr. K. discusses vivid details of the Sonderkommando and how he lives with these memories.

Author/Creator
K., Morris, 1926-
Published
Peabody, Mass. : Holocaust Center of the Jewish Federation of the North Shore, 1989
Interview Date
June 28, 1989.
Locale
Poland
Łódź
Łódź (Poland)
Stuttgart (Germany)
Marburg (Germany)
Hamburg (Germany)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Morris K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1431). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.