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Harry S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2359) interviewed by David Herman and Elliot Perry,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2359

Videotape testimony of Harry S., who was born in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland in 1929. He recalls their poverty; attending public school; antisemitic harassment; German invasion; ghettoization; smuggling food to his family; lying about his age to obtain a job in a glass factory; deportation of his parents and sister (he never saw them again); a man exempted from deportation choosing to stay with his baby (an image that he still sees today); mass shootings in nearby woods; deportation to Częstochowa in 1943; slave labor in a munitions factory; transfer to Buchenwald, then Rehmsdorf; friendship with one boy with whom he shared extra rations obtained from a prisoner who died in front of him; a death march to Theresienstadt; liberation by Soviet troops; being chosen to go to England; living in a group home in Windermere; a wonderful psychiatrist who helped them adjust to normal life; transfer to a hostel near London; apprenticeship as a tailor; marriage; raising a family; his successful business; and sharing his story with his children. Mr. S. discusses being the sole family survivor, and details of ghetto and camp life.

Author/Creator
S., Harry, 1929-
Published
London, England : British Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1990
Interview Date
November 30, 1990.
Locale
Piotrków Trybunalski (Poland)
Poland
Windermere (England)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Harry S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2359). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.