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Jozef W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3659) interviewed by Peter Salner and Ingrid Králová,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3659

Videotape testimony of Jozef W., who was born in Pušovce, then the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, in 1916. He recounts his father's death in World War I; his family's orthodoxy; cordial relations with non-Jews; visiting his grandfather in Chmelov; attending yeshiva in Gelnica, then teachers academy in Prešov; an antisemitic professor; teaching in Levoča; working with Hashomer Hatzair preparing youths to emigrate to Palestine; traveling to Berlin in 1939 to obtain funds to rescue Polish children; smuggling them to Čadca; organizing a communal farm; teaching in Trenčin in 1940; marriage in March 1942; his mother's and stepfather's deportation to Žilina; futile attempts to obtain their release; forced labor in Nováky with his wife; their escape; traveling to her hometown, Rozhanovce, then Košice and Budapest, with help from non-Jews; forging papers; fleeing to Košice after German occupation; traveling to Žilina with help from non-Jews; posing as non-Jews; joining the Slovak uprising; writing for a paper in Banská Bystrica; fleeing the Germans; joining his unit in Košice; and hiding in a forest until liberation by Soviet troops. Mr. W. describes his career as a journalist in Moscow; his son's birth; his wife's suicide; antisemitic discrimination; returning to Bratislava in 1953; and his subsequent career.

Author/Creator
W., Jozef, 1916-
Published
Bratislava, Slovakia : Milan Šimečka Foundation, 1995
Interview Date
February 1, 1995 and February 11, 1995.
Locale
Slovakia
Pušovce (Slovakia)
Austria
Chmelov (Slovakia)
Gelnica (Slovakia)
Prešov (Slovakia)
Levoča (Slovakia)
Berlin (Germany)
Čadca (Slovakia)
Trenčín (Slovakia)
Žilina (Slovakia)
Rozhanovce (Slovakia)
Košice (Slovakia)
Budapest (Hungary)
Bratislava (Slovakia)
Banská Bystrica (Slovakia)
Moscow (Russia)
Language
Slovak
Copies
3 copies: Betacam SP dub; 1/2 in. VHS dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Jozef W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3659). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4291985
Record last modified: 2018-05-29 11:42:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4291985