- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Eric H., who was born in Gródek, Poland in 1908. He describes his family; engineering studies in Czechoslovakia; moving to Galicia for employment; and the demoralizing impact of Russian occupation in 1939. Mr. H. recalls joining his parents in Lwów; his marriage; moving to Boryslav; the May 1941 arrest of schoolchildren for celebrating a Polish holiday; the German attack in June; a brutal pogrom in which Jews were killed by the local population when the bodies of the arrested children were found and it was rumored Jews were responsible; and moral dilemmas of the Judenrat in implementing German deportations. Mr. H. remembers mass killings and atrocities; a German supervisor who saved him and his wife; being hidden with sixteen Jews for six weeks by a Ukrainian; liberation by Russians; fear of the Russians and of Polish antisemitism; escape to Germany; directing an ORT school; and emigration to the United States in 1949. In this vivid and detailed testimony, Mr. E. reflects upon the impact of the Soviet occupation in creating a passive response to the Germans and the role of the human spirit and luck in survival.
- Author/Creator
- H., Eric, 1908-
- Published
- New York, N.Y. : Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale, 1985
- Interview Date
- April 29, 1985.
- Locale
- Poland
Horodok (Lʹvivsʹka oblastʹ, Ukraine)
Galicia (Poland and Ukraine)
Drohobych (Ukraine)
Boryslav (Ukraine)
Lʹviv (Ukraine)
Munich (Germany)
- Cite As
- Eric H. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-574). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Strochlic, Kathy, interviewer.
Schulwolf, Martha, interviewer.
- Notes
-
A copy of an affidavit given by Eric H. in the legal department of the Office of the Liberated Jews in Munich on March 3, 1947 (in German with an English translation) is available in the repository.
