Jerry S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1030)

Videotape testimony of Jerry S., who was born in Troyanovka, Russia (presently Ukraine) in 1915. He recounts his family's evacuation during World War I; returning to live in Povorsk after the war; inability to support himself; living in Łódź from 1932 to 1937; returning to Povorsk; working as a store manager for the Soviets until being drafted in June 1941; retreating with Soviet forces; learning of the mass killing of Jews in his town (two brothers escaped to the partisans); serving as a machine gun operator in Kiev shortly before the Germans arrived; hiding in a field when overtaken by Germans (he saw Soviet soldiers, who had surrendered, shot on the spot); forced labor for two years in Soviet camps building railroads in the Urals and in a coal mine near Moscow for two years; hearing from his brother; traveling to Łódź in 1946; illegally crossing borders to join his brother in Italy; and their emigration to the United States in 1948 to join relatives. Mr. S. notes he always spoke to his children about his experiences in spite of emotional difficulties doing so.