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Fred S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1535) interviewed by Anne Kaplan and Bernard Weinstein,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1535

Videotape testimony of Fred S., who was born in Stawiszyn, Poland in 1923, one of six children. He recounts his family's poverty; working at fifteen; participation in Betar; German invasion; anti-Jewish restrictions; deportation to Kalisz in 1940; transfer to Koźminek; deportation of all children including his younger siblings (they were killed); deportation with his brother and father to Poznań-Schweiningen; slave labor unloading coal; public hangings; trying to obtain soup for his father from a cousin (he refused); his father's selection in 1942 (he never saw him again); transfer with his brother to Auschwitz (he never saw his mother, sister and brother again), then to Zgoda (Świętochłowice); slave labor demolishing buildings, then in the kitchen; his brother's disappearance (he never saw him again); a beating for smuggling potatoes; transfer to Mauthausen; a death march; liberation by United States troops; hospitalization in Wels; traveling to Salzburg displaced persons camp, then to Modena; returning to Germany; living in Munich, Landsberg and Feldafing displaced persons camps, then Moosburg with a cousin; and emigration to the United States. Mr. S. discusses always believing in God and sharing his experiences with his children when they were older.

Author/Creator
S., Fred, 1923-
Published
Union, N.J. : Kean College Oral Testimonies Project, 1989
Interview Date
July 31, 1989.
Locale
Poland
Koźminek (Województwo wielkopolskie)
Stawiszyn (Poland)
Kalisz (Poland)
Wels (Austria)
Modena (Italy)
Munich (Germany)
Moosburg an der Isar (Germany)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Fred S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1535). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.