- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Isaac Z., who was born in Rīga, Latvia in 1920, the oldest of four children. He recalls living in Līvāni; antisemitic harassment; participation in Gordonyah; leading Gordonyah in Daugavpils and Rīga; Soviet occupation in 1940; returning to Līvāni; German invasion in June 1941; escaping to the Soviet Union; deportation to Cheli︠a︡binsk; forced labor; transferring to Alma-Ata; teaching in western Kazakhstan; enlisting in the Soviet military; serving in Stalingrad; transfer to forced labor in coal mines in Novosibirskai︠a︡ because he was born in a capitalist country; focusing solely on obtaining extra food; attending a synagogue in Novosibirsk while being transferred to Kyrgyzstan; becoming "alive" again after having enough food; working in Kuĭbyshev; pretending to be Polish to leave the Soviet Union; enlisting in the Polish army; a seder in Chełm in 1944; deserting; obtaining false papers with help from Zionists; organizing illegal immigration to Palestine in displaced persons camps; marriage in Germany; learning his entire family was killed; divorce; studying psychotherapy; living in Munich; remarriage in 1955; and emigration to the United States in 1957. Mr. Z. discusses his career as a therapist; repressing family losses until recently; and contact with relatives in Israel and South America. He shows photographs.
- Author/Creator
- Z., Isaac, 1920-2007.
- Published
- New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1990
- Interview Date
- August 1, 1990.
- Locale
- Soviet Union
Latvia
Rīga (Latvia)
Līvāni (Latvia)
Daugavpils (Latvia)
Cheli︠a︡binsk (Russia)
Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan)
Kazakhstan
Novosibirskai︠a︡ oblastʹ (Russia)
Novosibirsk (Russia)
Kyrgyzstan
Kuĭbyshev (Novosibirskai︠a︡ oblastʹ, Russia)
Chełm (Lublin, Poland)
Munich (Germany)
- Cite As
- Isaac Z. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1710). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Blum-Dobkin, Toby, interviewer.
Mann, Devorah, interviewer.