Joseph A. Holocaust testimony (HVT-651)

Videotape testimony of Joseph A., who was born in Lithuania in 1919. He recalls attending yeshiva in Kelmė; attending gymnasium; draft into the Lithuanian military in 1939; Soviet occupation; transfer to the Soviet military; leaving the military; German occupation; ghettoization; being selected with other men for forced labor in Germany; a rabbi encouraging them to help each other; frequent beatings; receiving extra food from friends; transfer to Auschwitz; transfer with other non-Polish-speaking prisoners to clean up the remains of the Warsaw ghetto; observing shootings of Jews who had hidden themselves; a death march during which friends assisted him; train transport to Dachau; hospitalization; transfer to another camp; liberation by United States troops; hospitalization in Germany for over a year; living in a displaced persons camp; marriage; his son's birth; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Mr. A. discusses the importance to his survival of will power and assistance from fellow prisoners.