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William U. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1904) interviewed by Toby Blum-Dobkin,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1904

Videotape testimony of William U., who was born in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (later southeastern Poland) in 1913. He describes two older brothers emigrating, one prior to his birth; attending public school; antisemitic harassment; joining Zionist groups; attending school in Lʹviv and Warsaw; teaching; Polish military draft; German invasion; being wounded; hospitalization; German takeover of the military hospital; release after three months; traveling to the Soviet zone; arrest in Przemyśl; release when his identity was verified; returning home; teaching in Lʹviv; German invasion in June 1941; ghettoization; a non-Jewish former student providing him with documents as a non-Jew; helping Jewish friends hide; traveling to Legionowo, then Warsaw; returning to Lʹviv; hiding in his former building superintendent's cellar; capture; incarceration in Janowska; escape the next day; hiding again; liberation by Soviet troops; a Pole shooting him after learning he was Jewish; Metropolitan Andriĭ Sheptyt︠s︡ḱyĭ providing medical help; finding a niece; traveling to Berlin, then Łódź; living in Schlachtensee displaced persons camp; assistance from the Joint; and emigrating to the United States in 1946 (he met his brother). Mr. U. discusses wanting to help others since so many helped him survive and the importance of providing a Jewish heritage to his daughters. He shows photographs.

Author/Creator
U., William, 1913-
Published
New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1991
Interview Date
April 13, 1991.
Locale
Poland
Ukraine
Lʹviv
Austria
Lʹviv (Ukraine)
Przemyśl (Poland)
Legionowo (Województwo Mazowieckie, Poland)
Warsaw (Poland)
Berlin (Germany)
Łódź (Poland)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
William U. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1904). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.