Overview
- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Ben L., who was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1922. He recalls anti-Jewish violence; attending rabbinical school to please his mother; his father's death in 1938; German invasion; ghettoization in 1940; a work assignment outside the ghetto; trading valuables for food to Polish smugglers; his mother and younger brother being smuggled out (he never saw them again); not escaping in order to protect his sister; hiding in a bunker during the uprising; discovery; deportation to Treblinka; selection for transfer to Majdanek after a few days; transfer a few months later to Auschwitz/Birkenau; working outside the camp; trading goods of the murdered Jews for food (prisoners would not have survived without it); public hangings of escapees; planning an escape with three others; the first two being caught and killed; contemplating suicide; transfer to Mauthausen, then Ebensee; rapid deterioration since he could not obtain extra food; liberation by United States troops; and prisoners killing those who had cooperated with the Germans.
- Published
- Milwaukee, Wis. : Generation After of Milwaukee, 1987
- Interview Date
- April 22, 1987.
- Locale
- Poland
Warsaw
Warsaw (Poland) - Cite As
- Ben L. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1023). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Copies
- 2 copies: 3/4 in. master; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
- Physical Description
- 1 videorecording (2 hr.) : col
Keywords & Subjects
- Subjects (Local Yale)
- Antisemitism Prewar.
- Subjects
- Holocaust survivors. Video tapes. Men. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. Jewish ghettos. Jews--Poland--Warsaw. Forced labor. World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities. Escapes. Suicide. Revenge. Poland. Warsaw (Poland) Warsaw (Poland)--History--Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 1943. Oral histories (document genres) L., Ben,--1922- Treblinka (Concentration camp) Majdanek (Concentration camp) Birkenau (Concentration camp) Auschwitz (Concentration camp) Mauthausen (Concentration camp) Ebensee (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/4282875
- Record last modified:
- 2018-06-04 13:28:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4282875
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