Naftali W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1707) interviewed by Helen W. Silverman and Eva Kantor

Videotape testimony of Naftali W., who was born in Kraków, Poland in 1924, one of six children. He recalls beatings by non-Jews; visiting grandparents in Sędziszów; German invasion; returning home; his father's departure for Soviet territory; his family's return to Sędziszów; incarceration in a forced labor camp; escape; his father's return; ghettoization; a round-up; selection with one brother (he never saw his family again); transfer to the Rzeszów ghetto; deportation to Mielec without his brother; a privileged position; receiving food from a German engineer and Polish civilian workers; transfer to Wieliczka, Flossenbürg, and Leitmeritz; public hangings; transfer to Mauthausen, then Gusen; beatings by Ukrainian prisoners; posing as a non-Jew to obtain better treatment; assistance from a German; liberation by United States troops in May 1945; traveling to Italy with the Jewish brigade; living in Modena and a displaced persons camp; illegal emigration; incarceration on Cyprus by the British; marriage; arriving in Palestine in 1947; participating in the Israel-Arab War; and his career in the air force and aircraft industry. Mr. W. discusses camp conditions and experiences; wishing to die in the camps; not knowing how he survived; reluctance to share his experiences, even with his wife and children; and family losses.