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Zygmunt G. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1455) interviewed by Bernard Weinstein and Sidney Kreuger,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1455

Videotape testimony of Zygmunt G., who was born in Kopychynt︠s︡i, Poland (presently Ukraine) in 1923. He recounts his family's orthodoxy; attending public and Hebrew schools; Soviet occupation; attending a Russian school; German invasion; a massacre of Jews; deportation to the Tarnopol ghetto; slave labor; returning home; incarceration in a prison in Chortkiv, then in Kamionka; escaping; returning home; round-up of his parents (his mother was killed, his father escaped); hiding in surrounding fields; returning to Kopychynt︠s︡i; escaping again with his father and other relatives; hiding with a non-Jew; retuning to the Kopychynt︠s︡i ghetto; escaping again with his father, uncle, and other relatives; hiding with several Polish farmers; liberation by Soviet troops in March 1944; draft into the Soviet army; fighting in Chemnitz; traveling to Legnica, then to Munich via Vienna; emigration to the United States in 1951, then Cuba in 1956; marriage; returning to the United States; and the births of two sons. Mr. G. discusses how few people survived from his town; testifying at a war crimes trial in Mannheim; sending money to the daughter of one man who hid them; sharing his experiences with his children; and pervasive painful memories.

Author/Creator
G., Zygmunt, 1923-
Published
Union, N.J. : Kean College Oral Testimonies Project, 1989
Interview Date
February 21, 1989.
Locale
Ukraine
Ternopilʹ
Kopychynt︠s︡i.
Soviet Union
Germany
Poland
Kopychynt︠s︡i (Ukraine)
Legnica (Poland)
Munich (Germany)
Vienna (Austria)
Cuba
Mannheim (Germany)
Language
English
Copies
4 copies: 3/4 in. dub; Betacam SP restoration master; Betacam SP restoration submaster; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Zygmunt G. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1455). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.