- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Koppel K., who was born in Białobrzegi, Poland in 1928 to an affluent, Hasidic family. He recalls attending public school and cheder; antisemitic harassment; joyous holiday celebrations; German invasion in 1939; his father serving on the Judenrat; his round-up when a German was killed (they never saw him again); ghettoization; obtaining food from his father's non-Jewish associates and the Kommandant's sons; the Kommandant warning them of a deportation; the Kommandant separating him from his mother and sisters (he never saw them again); slave labor locally; transfer to Skarżysko; a privileged job; smuggling food and wood; a nurse hiding him when he was too sick to work; selection for killing; a kapo allowing him to stay behind; public hangings of escapees; singing to raise morale; transfer to Buchenwald; improved conditions; a prisoner official having them identify bad kapos from Skarżysko (others beat them to death); transfer to Schlieben; debilitation due to work with poisonous materials; reassignment after the factory was bombed; working with his friend; transfer to Theresienstadt; receiving Red Cross packages; liberation by Soviet troops; briefly returning home; joining the first transport to Windermere; wonderful conditions; living in hostels in Newport Pagnell and London; marriage; purchasing a business; and raising three children. Mr. K. discusses his Zionism and religious beliefs; yearly reunions of Windermere friends; and not judging people by their origins.
- Author/Creator
- K., Koppel, 1928-
- Published
- London, England : British Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1990
- Interview Date
- December 13, 1990.
- Locale
- Poland
Białobrzegi (Radom)
Białobrzegi (Radom, Poland)
Windermere (England)
Newport Pagnell (England)
London (England)
- Cite As
- Koppel K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2366). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Perry, Elliot, interviewer.
