- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Allen R., who was born in Koniecpol, Poland, in 1916 and raised in Sosnowiec. Mr. R. describes prewar antisemitism; capture during the German invasion while in the Polish army; escape and return home; seizure of the family salvage business; moving to the Srodula ghetto; sorting shoes of Auschwitz deportees; and volunteering for forced labor at a small camp in Silesia, to save his wife and family (most of whom he never saw again). He relates transport to Auschwitz with other Sosnowiec Jews; transfer to Warsaw; clearing rubble in the destroyed ghetto; finding hidden valuables which he traded for food; narrowly avoiding execution when a kapo informed on him; a beating which still affects him; the death march to the train; transport to Mühldorf; his appointment as Blockältester of the Sosnowiec Jews; and liberation by American troops. He discusses his job as manager of the food warehouse at the Feldafing displaced persons camp; meeting his second wife there; emigrating to the United States in 1949; establishing a successful salvage firm with his brother; and regret at his children's reluctance to ask about his wartime experience.
- Author/Creator
- R., Allen, 1916-
- Published
- New Haven, Conn. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1989
- Interview Date
- April 25, 1989.
- Locale
- Poland
Sosnowiec (Województwo Śląskie)
Koniecpol (Województwo Śląskie, Poland)
Sosnowiec (Województwo Śląskie, Poland)
Warsaw (Poland)
- Cite As
- Allen R. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1159). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Ritvo, Lucille B.,
Rudof, Joanne Weiner, interviewer.
