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Marcel K. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1751) interviewed by Devorah Mann,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1751

Videotape testimony of Marcel K., who was born in Stará Lubovňa, Czechoslovakia in 1924, one of six children. He recalls cordial relations with non-Jews; attending public school; increasing antisemitism beginning in 1938; anti-Jewish restrictions after Slovak independence in March 1939; confiscations of family property by Hlinka guardsmen; deportation to Žilina, then Auschwitz/Birkenau in March 1942; slave labor with his brother; assistance from a Polish kapo; witnessing his brother's murder by guards in May; public executions; assistance from fellow-prisoners when he was sick; assistance from a Polish priest; joining the camp underground; learning of the Sonderkommando uprising; a death march, then train transport to Mauthausen in January 1945; transfer to Gusen, then Ebensee; slave labor in tunnels; liberation by United States troops in May; returning home, then traveling to Italy; working with organizations in Czechoslovakia to move Jews to Italy for illegal emigration to Palestine; serving in the Czech military; emigration to Israel in 1948; participating in the Israel-Arab War; marriage to a survivor in 1954; participating in the Sinai Campaign; the births of his daughters; and emigration to the United States in 1960. Mr. K. discusses his strong religious faith in the camps and to the present; being the sole survivor of his family of eighty-two; reluctance to share his experiences with his children; and the impossibility of understanding his experiences for those who were not there. He shows photographs and documents.

Author/Creator
K., Marcel, 1924-
Published
New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1991
Interview Date
January 15, 1991.
Locale
Czechoslovakia
Stará L̕ubovňa (Slovakia)
Italy
Language
English
Copies
3 copies: 3/4 in. dub; Betacam SP restoration master; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Marcel K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1751). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.