- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Vladimir M., who was born in Minsk, Belarus in 1933, the younger of two brothers. He recounts his father's participation in the Bolshevik movement; his family's move to Moscow in 1935; his brother spending the summer with grandparents in Minsk in 1937; his father's arrest, then his mother's arrest; placement in orphanages; his uncle bringing him to Minsk in December 1939; being coddled within his large, extended family, especially by his grandmother; attending summer camp in 1941; German invasion; a teacher returning him to Minsk; learning of mass shootings, including his uncle and other relatives; ghettoization; hiding during round-ups for mass shootings; hospitalization for typhus; he and his brother sneaking out of the ghetto; singing to German and Hungarian soldiers for extra food; bringing it to his grandparents; starvation, cold, and disease; more mass shootings, including many relatives; escaping with his brother and others; assistance from villagers; fleeing antisemitic partisans; joining Shalom Zorin's partisan family unit, then merging with the Bielski brigade; a German attack; frequently changing locations; partisan battles with Germans; executions of captured German soldiers; liberation by Soviet troops; returning to Minsk; living in several orphanages; pervasive antisemitism; his mother and father returning in 1947; their divorce; living with his father in Ashmi︠a︡ny in summer 1948; being denied membership in the Komsomol due to his parents' records; being warned in 1951 his father's arrest was imminent; moving to Siberia with him to avoid arrest; attending school in Tomsk; military enlistment in 1955; emigration to Israel; and his father's death in 1967. Mr. M. discusses his large, extended family, all of whom were killed; life in orphanages, the ghetto, partisans, Siberia, and Israel; difficulty relating to parents he hardly knew; nightmares resulting from his experiences; and not talking about his experiences with anyone, including his family. He shows photographs and documents and sings many songs.
- Author/Creator
- M., Vladimir, 1933-
- Published
- Tel Aviv, Israel : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1995
- Interview Date
- June 8 and 15, July 6 and 13, and September 7, 1995.
- Locale
- Soviet Union
Belarus
Minsk
Russia
Minsk (Belarus)
Moscow (Russia)
Ashmi︠a︡ny (Belarus)
Tomsk (Russia)
- Cite As
- Vladimir M. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3784). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in Russian.
