Bernard S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3237) interviewed by Lawrence L. Langer

Videotape testimony of Bernard S., who was born in Sofiïvka, Poland (presently Ukraine) in 1928, one of six children. He recalls Soviet occupation in 1939; German invasion in June 1941; a mass killing including his father; stealing food for his family; fleeing with others when they saw trucks entering the village; learning there had been a mass killing including his family; hiding in the forest; receiving food from his former Polish employer; returning to his town after a month; escaping to the forest with a woman and her children; building a bunker; moving often; obtaining food from Polish farmers and a woman who was hiding a Jewish child; killings by Ukrainians; fleeing to a swamp; living for six months on a platfrom; contact with partisans; liberation by Soviet troops in March 1944; traveling to Kharkiv, Kiev, then Poland; living in a children's home; leaving with other children for Kraków; preparing for emigration to Israel; being smuggled to Prague, then to Leipheim, Germany; hearing from his uncle in the United States; and emigrating to join him in April 1947. Mr. S. notes seldom discussing his experiences with his children and difficulty conveying everything he lived through despite vivid memories.