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Frederick S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-437) interviewed by Sarah Moskovitz and Florabel Kinsler,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-437

Videotape testimony of Frederick S., who was born in a small village in Hungary (later Slovakia) in 1894 and moved to Vienna with his family at age fifteen. He recalls serving in the Austro-Hungarian army in World War I; returning to Vienna on October 26, 1918; marriage in 1930; divorce and remarriage in 1932; his daughter's birth in 1937; the rise of antisemitism; German annexation of Austria in March 1938; his arrest and deportation to Dachau in April; transfer to Buchenwald in October; forced labor, humiliation, and beatings; Kristallnacht; receiving food and cigarettes from a non-Jewish prisoner; his sister arranging his release provided he left Austria in six weeks; a police officer who extended his stay in Vienna by two weeks; emigration to the Kitchener refugee camp in England (his wife and daughter were already in the United States); and emigrating to the United States. Mr. S. notes the disbelief in Kitchener and the United States when he described concentration camp experiences and the deaths of family members during the war. He reads a letter he had written to his family from Buchenwald.

Author/Creator
S., Frederick, 1894-
Published
Los Angeles, Calif. : UCLA Holocaust Documentation Archives, 1983
Interview Date
May 1, 1983.
Locale
Hungary
Slovakia
Vienna (Austria)
Austria
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Frederick S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-437). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.