- Summary
- Videotape testimony of William R., who was born in Częstochowa, Poland, in 1918. He describes prewar Jewish life in his town; his happy childhood and young adulthood as part of a large, close-knit, religiously observant family; the German occupation and ghettoization of Częstochowa; his black market activities to obtain food for his starving family in the ghetto; the liquidation of the ghetto and the destruction of his family; his unsuccessful attempt to save his younger brother and the sense of guilt at his failure; and his experiences in numerous concentration camps. Mr. R. speaks of his liberation by American troops near Stuttgart; life in a displaced persons camp for three years after the war; and his emigration to the United States. He reflects on the responsibility of survivors to tell the world of the brutality of the Nazis toward the Jews; the inability of Jewish prisoners to help each other; the "miracles" to which he attributes his survival; and his wish for his children to be informed about the Holocaust and to carry on the Jewish tradition.
- Author/Creator
- R., William, 1929-1996.
- Published
- New Haven, Conn. : Holocaust Survivors Film Project, 1980
- Interview Date
- August 6, 1979 and April, 1980.
- Locale
- Poland
Częstochowa
Częstochowa (Poland)
Stuttgart (Germany)
- Cite As
- William R. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-9). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Vlock, Laurel, interviewer.
- Notes
-
Associated material: Jack P. Holocaust testimony [friend] (HVT-157), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
