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Solly I. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2139) interviewed by Elliot Perry and Gillian Green,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2139

Videotape testimony of Solly I., who was born in Ryki, Poland in 1930 to a Hasidic family. He recalls his four sisters; isolation from the outside community; speaking only Yiddish; pervasive antisemitism; German invasion; briefly fleeing to Żelechów; returning home; his father arranging his and one sister's escape to hide with a non-Jewish farmer; having to leave the farm; living with a cousin in Dęblin; their escape during the liquidation; a farmer catching his sister (he never saw her again); wandering the forest for six months; entering the camp in Dęblin; living with his aunt; public hangings of escapees; planning an escape with other boys; transfer to Częstochowa before implementing the plan; a privileged position caring for a soldier's rabbits; sharing extra food with others; his aunt and a man from Ryki caring for him; transfer to Buchenwald, then Theresienstadt; a beating which resulted in permanent injury to his teeth and ears; liberation by Soviet troops; beating a German; briefly returning to Poland; being stoned in Ryki; meeting his aunt in Łódź; returning to Theresienstadt; traveling to Windermere; a wonderful time there; living in a hostel in Gateshead; going to Israel via Marseille in summer 1948; participating in the Arab-Israel War; returning to his uncle in England; establishing a business; marriage; his wife's early death; and raising two children. Mr. I. discusses his father's last telegram to his uncle (he has it) and not sharing his story with his children. He shows photographs.

Author/Creator
I., Solly, 1930-
Published
London, England : British Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1992
Interview Date
May 20, 1992.
Locale
Poland
Ryki (Lublin, Poland)
Żelechów (Garwolin, Poland)
Dęblin (Warsaw, Poland)
Łódź (Poland)
Windermere (England)
Marseille (France)
Gateshead (England)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Solly I. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2139). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4296579
Record last modified: 2018-05-29 11:47:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4296579