Overview
- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Walter K., who was born in Łódź, Poland in 1929. He describes his affluent and large, extended family; German occupation; anti-Jewish restrictions; fleeing to Kielce with his family; ghettoization; a mass killing in 1941, including his sister; deportation to Pionki with his father; slave labor at an ammunition factory; public hangings; help from a Polish worker; transfer with his father to Auschwitz in September 1943; sorting clothes in Birkenau; transfer to Sosnowiec; assignment to the kitchen; sharing extra food with his father; evacuation to Mauthausen in November 1944; witnessing cannibalism; transfer to Gusen in February 1945; the death march to Gunskirchen; disappearance of German guards on May 4; hospitalization in Wels; and his father's death. Mr. K. recounts three months recuperating; traveling to Bergen-Belsen in July; returning to Łódź in December, seeking surviving relatives; leaving Poland due to antisemitism; living in Kassel displaced persons camp, then Bad Nauheim; registering in Frankfurt to go to the United States; attending classes in Bremerhaven; emigration in August 1947; and reunion with his mother. He discusses the importance to his survival of his father's support; the impact of starvation; and nightmares of hangings in Pionki.
- Published
- Houston, Tex : Holocaust Education Center and Memorial Museum of Houston, 1991
- Interview Date
- May 10,1991.
- Locale
- Poland
Kielce
Łódź (Poland)
Kielce (Poland)
Wels (Austria)
Bad Nauheim (Germany)
Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
Bremerhaven (Germany) - Cite As
- Walter K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1691). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Physical Details
- Language
- English
- Copies
- 2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
- Physical Description
- 1 videorecording (3 hr., 6 min.) : col
Keywords & Subjects
- Subjects (Local Yale)
- Child survivors.
Mass killings.
Postwar effects.
Aid by non-Jews.
Mutual aid.
Antisemitism Postwar.
Postwar experiences. - Subjects
- Holocaust survivors. Video tapes. Men. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. World War, 1939-1945--Children. Jewish ghettos. Jews--Poland--Kielce. Forced labor. World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities. Concentration camps--Psychological aspects. Fathers and sons. Nightmares. Cannibalism. Death marches. Poland. Łódź (Poland) Kielce (Poland) Wels (Austria) Bad Nauheim (Germany) Frankfurt am Main (Germany) Bremerhaven (Germany) Oral histories (document genres) Refugee camps. K., Walter,--1929- Pionki (Concentration camp) DP-Camp Bergen-Belsen. Auschwitz (Concentration camp) Birkenau (Concentration camp) Mauthausen (Concentration camp) Gusen (Concentration camp) Sosnowiec (Concentration camp) Gunskirchen (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/4284103
- Record last modified:
- 2018-05-29 11:54:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4284103
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