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Robert W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3061) interviewed by Sandy Hayden,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3061

Videotape testimony of Robert W., who was born in Skarżysko-Kamienna, Poland in 1931, the youngest of six childen. He recalls antisemitic harassment; German invasion; a public hanging; ghettoization; his father arranging for him to hide with non-Jews; returning to rejoin his family; his mother's deportation; being smuggled into the labor camp by his brothers; slave labor; sharing extra food received from a civilian worker with his brothers, father, or sister; his father hiding him when he was sick; his father arranging his escape to the partisans; returning due to antisemitic hostility from the partisans; transfer to dig anti-tank ditches near Przedbórz, then to Częstochowa (he never saw his family again); slave labor in a munitions factory; transfer with a friend to Buchenwald; categorization as political prisoners resulting in preferential treatment; liberation by United States troops; assistance from the Red Cross; living in an OSE home in Paris; learning his family had perished; acting out his rage with other children; counseling; and emigration to Canada. Mr. W. discusses numbing himself in the camps; losing his belief in God; not discussing his experiences for many years; sharing them with his children when they were older; and recently speaking in schools. He shows photographs.

Author/Creator
W., Robert, 1931-
Published
Vancouver, B.C. : Vancouver Holocaust Centre Society, 1984
Interview Date
April 4 and October 3, 1984.
Locale
Poland
Skarżysko-Kamienna
Skarżysko-Kamienna (Poland)
Przedbórz (Łódź, Poland)
Paris (France)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Robert W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3061). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.