Alan Z. Holocaust testimony (HVT-284) interviewed by Dori Laub and Bonnie Dwork,

Videotape testimony of Alan Z., who was born in Koło, Poland, in 1921. He describes the outbreak of the war and the resulting anti-Jewish legislation; the beginnings of extermination in nearby Chełmno in 1941; his escape to the village of Warta; the liquidation of Koło; and his flight, with his uncle, to the Łódź ghetto, where he had the privileged job of vegetable gardener and had contact with high ghetto officials, including Ḥayim Rumkowski. Mr. Z. relates his transport to Częstochowa, where he worked in the HASAG labor camp; his sudden transfer to Buchenwald, and two weeks later, to nearby Dora, where he was put to work in a rocket factory. He speaks of punishments inflicted on prisoners for the sabotage of machinery; the evacuation to Bergen-Belsen; liberation; and the involuntary confinement of former prisoners which followed. He tells of being sent to displaced persons camps; his circuitous return trip to Poland; and the surprise with which he was greeted by his former neighbors. Mr. Z. also recalls meeting his wife in Łódź; postwar pogroms; revenge against former SS guards; and efforts to impart his wartime experience to his children.