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Joe K. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2380) interviewed by David Herman and Elliot Perry,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2380

Videotape testimony of Joe K., who was born in Uniejów, Poland in 1928, one of three children. He recounts his father's death when he was three; living with his grandparents; attending cheder; yearly visits to his father's grave in Łódź; antisemitic harassment; an uncle visiting from England; German invasion; ghettoization; forced labor; transfer to the Dzierzbotki ghetto; building a bunker in the forest with others; hiding there during round-ups; he and his mother being captured by the Germans; their deportation to a labor camp; separation from her en route (he never saw her again); slave labor; singing to keep up their spirits; transfer to Auschwitz/Birkenau; slave labor for I. G. Farben in Buna/Monowitz; public hangings; a kapo assigning him a privileged position; British POWs giving him food; brief hospitalization; a death march, then train transfer to Nordhausen; working in an underground rocket factory; Allied bombings; transfer to Bergen-Belsen; liberation by British troops; cannibalism; working for the British army in Münster; exacting revenge on SS prisoners; learning a cousin was alive in Austria; traveling to see her; returning to Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp; locating his uncle in England; emigrating to join him; treatment for mental illness resulting from his experiences; marriage; and adopting a daughter. Mr. K. discusses the varying status of concentration camp prisoners; losing his faith in God; and not wanting his daughter to carry his memories, despite knowing his story.

Author/Creator
K., Joe, 1928-
Published
London, England : British Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1991
Interview Date
January 25, 1991.
Locale
Poland
Uniejów
Dzierzbotki
England
Uniejów (Łódź, Poland)
Łódź (Poland)
Austria
Münster (Niedersachsen, Germany)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Joe K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2380). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4296759
Record last modified: 2018-05-30 11:51:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4296759