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Abram Z. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1972) interviewed by Dana L. Kline and Lawrence L. Langer,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1972

Videotape testimony of Abram Z., who was born in Vilna, Poland in 1924. He recalls the flourishing Jewish culture; his father's Bund activities; the outbreak of war in 1939; his parents sending him to Pinsk; meeting Bund leaders including Victor Erlich; returning to Vilna; Soviet occupation; his father's arrest (he never saw him again); a pogrom when Lithuania became independent; German invasion in June 1941; hiding when Lithuanians began killing Jews; going to a forced labor camp outside of Vilna to avoid mass killings; bringing his mother there; returning to the Vilna ghetto; organization of schools, social services, and cultural events; becoming head of a youth organization; establishing a resistance group; smuggling in weapons; their decision not to fight in 1943, fearing reprisals against their families; his farewell to his mother; escaping through the sewers; hiding in a forest; joining Soviet and Lithuanian partisans; sabotage; execution of German POWs; destroying a Polish village of collaborators; fighting with the Soviet Army to liberate Vilna; being discharged from the Soviet Army with help from Jewish officers; moving to Łódź; marriage in Paris; and emigrating to Australia in 1948. Mr. Z. discusses many incidents of Jewish resistance; having a better understanding of Jacob Gens, head of the Judenrat, as he became older; and conflicts between the Judenrat and the resistance.

Author/Creator
Z., Abram, 1924-
Published
New Haven, Conn. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library, 1993
Interview Date
March 29, 1993.
Locale
Lithuania
Vilnius
Poland
Vilnius (Lithuania)
Pinsk (Belarus)
Łódź (Poland)
Paris (France)
Language
English
Copies
3 copies: 3/4 in. master; 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Abram Z. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1972). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4285410
Record last modified: 2018-05-30 11:33:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4285410