- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Henry and Sally K. Ms. K. was born in Wolanów, Poland in 1930, one of five children. She recounts her family's orthodoxy; harassment by non-Jewish children; attending a Jewish school in Radom; German invasion; soldiers burning the synagogue and killing the rabbi; her father being killed; her older brother hiding, and her sister going to Warsaw (she was killed); incarceration with her mother, sister, and younger brother in a forced labor camp for about a year; their transfer to Bliżyn; public execution of her cousin when he tried to escape; transfer to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation from her brother; saving her mother from selections; their transfer to Theresienstadt; liberation by Soviet troops; returning home; learning her older brother had returned and was killed by Poles; her mother sending her to England to study; her mother, sister, and younger brother emigrating to Israel; marriage to a survivor; and the birth of two sons. Ms. K discusses fasting on Yom Kippur and participating in daily prayers led by her mother in the camps; pervasive painful memories; nightmares; and sharing her experiences with her children.
Mr. K. was born in Konin, Poland in 1927, one of two brothers. He recounts his family's relative affluence (his father was a kosher butcher); attending Polish school and cheder; participating in Hashomer Hatzair; German invasion; his family moving to Warsaw; joining his grandparents in Ostrowiec, then their move to Ćmielów; separation from his family when he was deported to Bodzechów in 1942 (he never saw them again); slave labor; transfer to the Ostrowiec ghetto; his uncle supporting him; transfer with two uncles to Ostrowiec camp, then to Auschwitz/Birkenau; assignment to the Zigeunerlager (Gypsy Lager) the day after its liquidation; transfer to Zgoda (Świętochłowice); frequent public hangings; a German taking him to a dentist; transfer to Dachau, Mauthausen, then Gusen; slave labor in a weapons factory; receiving Red Cross packages; liberation by United States troops; walking to Linz; returning home; reunion with a cousin in Zakopane; living in Leipheim and Feldafing displaced persons camps; traveling to Merano, then Grottaferrata with a kibbutz he had joined; emigrating to join an uncle in England; marriage to a survivor; and the birth of two sons. Mr. K. notes the loss of many relatives and nightmares resulting from his experiences.
- Author/Creator
- K., Henry, 1927-
- Published
- London, England : British Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1991
- Interview Date
- March 1, 1991.
- Locale
- Poland
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
Wolanów (Poland)
Konin (Województwo Wielkopolskie, Poland)
Radom (Województwo Mazowieckie, Poland)
Warsaw (Poland)
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski (Poland)
Ćmielów (Województwo Świętokrzyskie, Poland)
Zakopane (Poland)
Linz (Austria)
Merano (Italy)
Grottaferrata (Italy)
- Cite As
- Henry and Sally K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2390). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Perry, Elliot, interviewer.