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Jan S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3688) interviewed by Peter Salner and Ingrid Antalová,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3688

Videotape testimony of Jan S., who was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1923, one of two children. He recounts his parents' assimilated lifestyle; his bar mitzvah to please his grandfather; participating with his sister in an anti-fascist youth group; moving with his family to Piešt̕any in 1938; joining the resistance; printing pamphlets and operating an illegal transmitter for the underground; arrest and imprisonment; solitary confinement for one year; transfer to Nováky; assignment to a privileged position as an electrician; joining the underground; obtaining a radio and weapons; convincing guards to join the partisans; a revolt in Nováky; escaping with others; joining the Slovak uprising; fighting in Handlová, Zemianske Kostoľany, Partizánske, Banská Bystrica and other places; being wounded twice; translating for British soldiers; a physician sending him to officer school in Poprad (he was too ill to fight); learning his mother and sister had survived in hiding and his father had been killed; working as a journalist; dismissal in 1952 for criticizing the regime and being Jewish; rehabilitation; and working for Alexander Dubček. Mr. S. notes the deportations and deaths of almost all his large, extended family.

Author/Creator
S., Jan, 1923-
Published
Bratislava, Slovakia : Milan Šimečka Foundation, 1995
Interview Date
June 29, 1995.
Locale
Slovakia
Czechoslovakia
Bratislava (Slovakia)
Piešt̕any (Slovakia)
Zemianske Kostol̕any (Slovakia)
Handlová (Slovakia)
Partizánske (Slovakia)
Banská Bystrica (Slovakia)
Poprad (Slovakia)
Language
Slovak
Copies
3 copies: 1/2 in. VHS master; Betacam SP submaster; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Jan S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3688 Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.