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Henry A. Holocaust testimony (HVT-4296) interviewed by Barbara Hadley Katz and Helen Katz,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-4296

Videotape testimony of Henry A., who was born in Jasło, Poland in 1922. He recounts cordial relations with non-Jews (many assisted him when he escaped in 1943); German invasion; fleeing to the Soviet zone; imprisonment in Lʹvov; release three weeks later; returning home; ghettoization in 1941; moving to Jedlicze in late 1942; selection to work in a refinery (his father and brother were deported and killed); placing his young cousin with a non-Jew (she survived); transfer to the Rzeszów ghetto in late 1942; transfer to Płaszów; surgery without anesthesia; escaping four weeks later; hiding with his mother's non-Jewish friend; entering Szebnie; transfer two weeks later to another camp, then to Auschwitz in August 1944; transfer to Laurahütte, then Mauthausen; slave labor in a quarry; transfer to Hannover five days later; a death march to Bergen-Belsen; liberation by British troops; living in Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp; assistance from UNRRA; moving to Stuttgart; marriage; assistance from the Joint; learning from the Red Cross of friends and relatives who had survived; returning to his hometown; threats from members of the AK; leaving for Kraków, then Stuttgart; and an uncle sponsoring his and his wife's emigration to the United States in 1949. Mr. A. notes reluctance to share his experiences after the war; suspending judgment of cruel kapos, regardless of their ethnicity, since they were trying to save their own lives; and testifying at a war crime trial in Germany. He shows photographs, documents, and a book written by his brother-in-law.

Author/Creator
A., Henry, 1922-
Published
New Haven, Conn. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 2004
Interview Date
June 8, 2004.
Locale
Poland
Jasło
Rzeszów
Germany
Jasło (Poland)
Jedlicze (Poland)
Lʹviv (Ukraine)
Stuttgart (Germany)
Kraków (Poland)
Language
English
Copies
3 copies: DVCam master; Betacam SP submaster; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Henry A. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4296). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/6696900
Record last modified: 2018-05-29 11:58:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt6696900