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Ernest B. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3940) interviewed by Peter Salner and Ingrid Antalová,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3940

Videotape testimony of Ernest B., who was born in Nové Mesto nad Váhom, Czechoslavakia (presently Slovakia) in 1924, an only child. He recalls his parents not discussing Judaism with him until he was seven or eight; acquiring his Jewish identity through active participation in Maccabi; Slovak independence resulting in anti-Jewish restrictions; being baptized in order to attend school; his family's exemption from deportation due to his father's profession; an uncle warning them to leave in 1944 when the Slovak uprising began; hiding with his parents in several locations with non-Jews; trying to reach partisans; help from the residents of Trebichava, moving when Germans attached; staying in Žitná, then Uhrovské Podhradie; digging a bunker in the woods with another couple from their town; locals helping them; leaving the bunker in April 1945 after Soviet liberation; returning to their hometown; some people returning their possessions and others refusing; encountering antisemitism; and his happiness upon leaving Nové Mesto nad Váhom since all his roots had been destroyed.

Author/Creator
B., Ernest, 1930-
Published
Bratislava, Slovakia : Milan Šimečka Foundation, 1996
Interview Date
August 16, 1996.
Locale
Slovakia
Czechoslovakia
Nové Mesto nad Váhom (Slovakia)
Trebichava (Slovakia)
Žitná (Slovakia)
Uhrovské Podhradie (Slovakia)
Language
Slovak
Copies
3 copies: 1/2 in. VHS master; Betacam SP submaster; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Ernest B. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3940). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.