Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Jack K. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1609) interviewed by Ann Gadol and Kay Cawthorn,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1609

Videotape testimony of Jack K., who was born in Poland in 1925. Mr. K. recounts German invasion; deportation with his brother to Gross-Masselwitz; slave labor; a German anti-Nazi guard suggesting he damage goods on the loading dock; sharing food with his brother; burying dead prisoners in the Wrocław Jewish cemetery; transfer with his brother to Klettendorf; an SS man from his hometown protecting him and his brother; transfer to Gross-Rosen; a public hanging; transfer to another camp; a death march; liberation by United States troops in Feldafing; his brother's return to Poland; traveling to Munich; working in Garmisch-Partenkirchen; reunion with his older brother; learning his father was alive; returning home with two friends; Poles killing his friends; fleeing; reunion with his father in Germany; returning to Garmisch; his father's marriage; living in Leipheim displaced persons camp; working for the Irgun in Paris and Marseille; smuggling weapons from Rome; illegal emigration to Palestine; interdiction by the British; incarceration on Cyprus; escape and capture; imprisonment; assistance from Golda Meir; release; joining the Israeli military; marriage; his son's birth; and joining his father, uncle, and brothers in the United States. Mr. K. discusses health problems resulting from his experiences; his fragile emotional state; and his daughter's death at age twenty. He shows photographs.

Author/Creator
K., Jack, 1925-
Published
Dallas, Tex. : Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies, 1991
Interview Date
March 10, 1991.
Locale
Poland
Feldafing (Germany)
Munich (Germany)
Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany)
Paris (France)
Marseille (France)
Rome (Italy)
Cyprus
Palestine
Language
English
Copies
4 copies: 3/4 in. master; Betacam SP restoration master; Betacam SP restoration submaster; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Jack K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1609). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.