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Sam M. Holocaust testimony (HVT-749) interviewed by Sue Kollinger and Debbie Weinberg,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-749

Videotape testimony of Sam M., who was born in Szydłowiec, Poland in approximately 1920. He recounts his family's orthodoxy; their poverty, which led to the deaths of two brothers; attending yeshiva in Końskie; antisemitic harassment; attending a lecture by Vladimir Jabotinsky; moving to Warsaw in 1937; participating in Betar; German invasion in 1939; returning home; being caught in a round-up; transport to do slave labor constructing a dike; people in Szydłowiec securing release of those from the town; returning home; deportation to Skarżysko-Kamienna; slave labor in a munitions factory; encountering a cousin; contacts with partisans; refusing to divulge their names under torture; transfer to Werke C; working with picric acid, which later negatively impacted his health; transfer to Częstochowa; slave labor in a steel mill; his cousin's hospitalization; assisting her; her assistance when he was hospitalized; train transfer to Buchenwald, then Dora; public hangings; transfer to Bergen-Belsen; being shot while "stealing" food, which he shared with those who helped him; liberation by British troops; transfer to a hospital in Malmö via Lübeck; emigration to the United States in 1953; marriage in 1956; and his daughter's birth. Mr. M. discusses persistent nightmares; not sharing his experiences with his daughter; the inability of others to understand survivors and their experiences; and attributing his survival to faith and willpower.

Author/Creator
M., Sam, 1920?-
Published
Dallas, Tex. : Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies, 1986
Interview Date
May 24, 1986.
Locale
Poland
Szydłowiec (Województwo Mazowieckie, Poland)
Końskie (Województwo Świętokrzyskie, Poland)
Warsaw (Poland)
Lübeck (Germany)
Malmö (Sweden)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Sam M. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-749). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.