- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Mordka K., who was born in Zduńska Wola, Poland, in 1921. Mr. K. tells of his childhood in a religious home; local Jews' disbelief of conditions in Germany related by Zbaszyń deportees; fleeing to Łódź during the German invasion; return home; being rounded-up and imprisoned at Sieradz in November 1939; release; and telling his family of his decision to escape to the Soviet zone. He recounts abuse by Germans while crossing the border at Małkinia; going to Białystok; living with other refugees in Volkovysk; arrest in spring 1940; deportation to a Siberian labor camp; and learning survival techniques from longtime Russian inmates. He recalls joining the Polish army in mid-1941; training in the Caucasus, then Persia; rumors of persecution in Poland; transfer to Palestine in 1944; disbanding and dispersal of his Jewish unit among Polish units; deserting after his reunion with friends and relatives; marriage; going to Paris in 1945; reunion with his sole surviving brother; return to Poland in 1948 to seek restitution of his family's property; departure in 1957 for Israel; and emigration to America in 1959. Mr. K. reflects on the deaths of six million Jews and the enormous loss to the Jewish community and the world.
- Author/Creator
- K., Mordka, 1921-
- Published
- New Haven, Conn. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1991
- Interview Date
- May 8, 1991.
- Locale
- Soviet Union
Sieradz (Poland)
Siberia (Russia)
Poland
Zduńska Wola (Poland)
Białystok (Poland)
Vaŭkavysk (Belarus)
Paris (France)
Małkinia (Poland)
Palestine
- Cite As
- Mordka K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1501). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Rudof, Joanne Weiner, interviewer.
Cohen, Frances Proctor, interviewer.
- Notes
-
Associated material: Gertrude K. Holocaust testimony [wife] (HVT-1502), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.