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Juraj A. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3687) interviewed by Zuzana Fialová and Zora Bútorová,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3687

Videotape testimony of Juraj A., who was born in Kladno, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1937. He recounts baptism of his entire family; an uncle in the United States sending them tickets to travel there in 1938; not going due to his father's illness; his death in 1941; his mother's remarriage; living in Rybárpole; his grandfather's privileged position as a factory owner; fleeing to Černová; moving to Velk̕á Bytča in summer 1944; anti-Jewish restrictions, including the yellow star; living briefly with his stepfather's parents; hiding in mountain villages, including Štrba, Ružomberok, Súlo̕v, and Porúbka, with assistance from the partisans; searches by Germans; observing abuse of Soviet prisoners of war; German retreat; liberation by Soviet troops; their return to Ružomberok; futile efforts to reclaim some of his grandfather's property; his stepfather changing their surname to avoid antisemitic harassment; his stepfather's arrest and imprisonment for eleven years because he was a Zionist; fleeing to Vienna, then the United States in 1968 due to Soviet repression; and learning about his grandparents' deportation from the Red Cross in 1977. He shows photographs, documents, and a book by Josef Bor that includes entries from a diary his uncle wrote in Theresienstadt.

Author/Creator
A., Juraj, 1937-
Published
Bratislava, Slovakia : Milan Šimečka Foundation, 1995
Interview Date
June 28, 1995.
Locale
Slovakia
Soviet Union
Czechoslovakia
Kladno (Středočeský kraj, Czech Republic)
Rybárpole (Slovakia)
Stará Černová (Slovakia)
Velk̕á Bytča (Slovakia)
Štrba (Slovakia)
Ružomberok (Slovakia)
Súlo̕v (Slovakia)
Liptovská Porúbka (Slovakia)
Language
Slovak
Copies
3 copies: 1/2 in. VHS submaster; Betacam SP dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Juraj A. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3687). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.