Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Israel Z. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2130) interviewed by Alberta Strage,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2130

Videotape testimony of Israel Z., who was born in Słomniki, Poland in 1922, the youngest of four children and only son. He recalls his family's affluence; their Hasidic orthodoxy; attending public school and cheder; antisemitic harassment; attending high school in Kraków; German invasion; arrest with his father; transfer to Miechów; execution of his father and another man; burying them; returning home; his mother and sisters hiding with non-Jews, obtaining false papers, and living as non-Jews; deportation to Bierzanów; death losing meaning for him; mass killings as reprisals for escape attempts; transfer to Prokocim; helping his father's friend; transfer to Płaszów, then Skarżysko; learning his youngest sister was there; sharing extra food with her and her friend (his future wife); transfer to Częstochowa, Sulejów, back to Częstochowa, Buchenwald, Laura, Dachau, and Allach; train evacuation; liberation by United States troops; living in Pasing; assistance from UNRRA; working for the U.S. military; reunion with his sister; living with her in Munich; reunion with his future wife in Landsberg displaced persons camp; emigration to join relatives in England in 1947; marriage in 1948; and raising two daughters. Mr. Z. notes his mother and other sisters were killed, and seldom discussing his experiences with his family. He shows photographs.

Author/Creator
Z., Israel, 1922-
Published
London, England : British Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1993
Interview Date
February 3, 1993.
Locale
Miechów Lubelski (Poland)
Kraków (Poland)
Słomniki (Poland)
Poland
Munich (Germany)
Pasing (Germany)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Israel Z. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2130). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.