- Summary
- A follow-up, directed videotape testimony of Martin S., whose first testimony was recorded in 1986. Mr. S. notes his first testimony was primarily for his children; hope that future scholars can discover the basis for extreme cruelty; meaninglessness of time in concentration camps; being kept alive in Skarżysko as a model factory worker because he ran so many machines at once; an SS officer saving his mother and brother to reward him, but randomly killing others; believing "they made an animal out of" him which still governs much of his present behavior; becoming completely introverted, obsessed with his own survival; guilt that he did not share food with others; staying out of sight, lying about his age and exceeding work quotas as survival strategies; improved conditions in Buchenwald; passionately wanting revenge after liberation; gradually acquiring humane values, particularly from his mother; fear of identifying himself as a Jew for many years after liberation, but raising his children in orthodoxy; resentment that he had no childhood; trying to capture some sense of youth through his children; bitterness at not understanding why he was the object of such intense hatred; continuing dreams; and hope that humans will learn to be less cruel.
- Author/Creator
- S., Martin, 1933-
- Published
- New Haven, Conn. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1988
- Interview Date
- May 19, 1988.
- Cite As
- Martin S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1091). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Langer, Lawrence L., interviewer.
Rosenstock, Sandra, interviewer.
- Notes
-
Due to the fact that this testimony contains significant dialogue between the witness and the interviewers, two versions were produced at the time of the taping. One version has the camera focused solely on the witness; the second has two cameras alternating between the witness and the interviewers. The interviewers' questions are based on their study of the original testimony as well as a discussion of the witness's memories of the first testimony, its impact on his life, and general issues concerning memory and language.
Associated material: Martin S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-641), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Related publication: Bread, butter and sugar : a boy's journey through the Holocaust and postwar Europe / Martin Schiller. -- Lanham, MD : Hamilton Books, c 2007.
