Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Philip K. and Isabella L. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1319) interviewed by Lawrence L. Langer,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1319

A follow-up, directed videotape testimony of Philip K., whose first testimony was recorded in 1989. Mr. K. describes Jewish education, culture, and community in Kisvárda; ghettoization by Hungarian troops in spring 1944, including thousands from surrounding areas; his recognition of danger in spite of others' Hungarian patriotism; deportation to Auschwitz; the entirely different conception of time in concentration camps; a rabbi who kept a mental Jewish calendar and helped him maintain kashruth; dealing with entirely new moral issues; the uncontrollable power of hunger; his desperation when he volunteered for transfer to Dachau; his ongoing and futile search for understanding how and why the Holocaust occurred and why lessons have not been learned; the importance and difficulty of redefining resistance and heroism under previously unimaginable circumstances; the contrast between Nazi and Jewish ideology; the profound change in world events marked by the Holocaust; survivors' profound difficulty learning to live again; his wish not to receive special treatment as a survivor; and the variety of experiences ("There are as many ways of survival as survivors"). He is joined briefly by his sister who discusses her efforts to memorialize those killed in the Holocaust and problems of survivors' children.

Author/Creator
K., Philip, 1924-
Published
New Haven, Conn. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1990
Interview Date
April 17, 1990.
Locale
Hungary
Kisvárda
Kisvárda (Hungary)
Language
English
Copies
5 copies: 2 3/4 in. masters; 2 3/4 in. dubs; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Philip K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1319). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4283724
Record last modified: 2018-05-30 11:28:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4283724