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Joseph K. Holocaust testimony (HVT-4147) interviewed by Dana L. Kline and Susan Millen,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-4147

Videotape testimony of Joseph K., who was born in a Polish village near Iwye (presently Iŭe, Belarus), one of five children. He recalls attending the Tarbut school in Iwye (only five out of sixty classmates survived); Soviet occupation; his bar mitzvah in 1939; German invasion in 1941; ghettoization in Iwye; a mass shooting of 2,500 Jews; his father bribing a guard to let them go to Lida; brief imprisonment; release to the Lida ghetto; slave labor on the railroad; his mother arranging his and his brothers' escape to the partisans; joining Tuvia Bielski's brigade; fleeing German attacks; living with his brothers in the forests near their native town from July 1943 to May 1944; assistance from a few non-Jews (he is still in touch with one farmer); observing Germans retreat; liberation by Soviet troops; returning to Iwye; his brothers' draft into the Soviet military; reunion with an uncle; traveling to Łódź, then with Beriḥah to Kraków, Bratislava, and Austria; living in Bindermichl displaced persons camp; assistance from UNRRA and the Joint; traveling to Rome; and emigrating to the United States to join relatives in 1947. Mr. K. is emotional as he tells his story.

Author/Creator
K., Joseph, 1926-
Published
New Haven, Conn. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 2001
Interview Date
August 29, 2001.
Locale
Belarus
Iŭe
Lida
Poland
Iŭe (Belarus)
Łódź (Poland)
Kraków (Poland)
Bratislava (Slovakia)
Rome (Italy)
Lida (Belarus)
Language
English
Copies
3 copies: Betacam SP master; 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Joseph K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4147). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.