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Akiva K. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2715) interviewed by Brana Gurewitsch,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2715

Videotape testimony of Akiva K., who was born in Katowice, Poland in 1929. He describes his affluent family; antisemitic incidents; moving to Warsaw shortly before German invasion; returning to Katowice; his father traveling to the Soviet-occupied zone; living with his grandmother in Wolbrom; his bar mitzvah; moving to Sosnowiec; participating in No'ar ha-Tsiyoni; staying in a village with his father; returning to his mother in Sosnowiec; being protected from deportation by a doctor who lived with his mother; ghettoization; hiding in a bunker; obtaining false papers; a futile escape attempt; smuggling themselves to the Kamionka ghetto; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; remaining with his mother's friend (he eventually perished); falsifying his age; forced labor; public executions; helping a friend smuggle food; a death march and train transport to Althammer, then Mauthausen; cannibalism; transfer to Gunskirchen; and liberation by United States troops. Mr. K. recounts living in Wels displaced persons camp; illegally traveling to Italy with the Jewish Brigade; emigration to Palestine; detention by the British; fighting in the Israeli War of Independence; emigration to the United States in 1958; marriage; and sharing parts of his story with his children. He shows photographs, documents and his belt worn during the war.

Author/Creator
K., Akiva, 1929-
Published
New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-New York Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1993
Interview Date
November 23, 1993.
Locale
Poland
Sosnowiec (Województwo Śląskie)
Italy
Katowice (Poland)
Warsaw (Poland)
Sosnowiec (Województwo Śląskie, Poland)
Wolbrom (Poland)
Palestine
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Akiva K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2715). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.