Oral history interview with Spiridon Tataru

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 2004.727.7 | RG Number: RG-50.573.0007

Overview

Interview Summary: Spiridon Tataru, born in Hotin, Romania (present day Khotyn, Ukraine), describes the his family; the prewar Jewish community of Hotin; his father's Jewish colleague; his time as a sailor; the beginning of the war; his imprisonment by the Soviets in 1941; the expulsion of the Jews of Hotin to the ghetto in Cernăuţi (Chernivtsi, Ukraine); assisting in the rescue of a young Jewish girl from the ghetto; visiting the ghetto and seeing dead bodies there; the bombing of Bucharest, Romania; assisting a Jewish family escape to England; the destruction of the synagogue in Hotin; and his thoughts regarding the Holocaust.
Interviewee: Spiridon Tataru
Date: interview: 2004 March 29
Credit Line: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation

Physical Details

Language: Romanian
Extent: 1 videocassette (DVCAM) : sound, color ; 1/4 in..

Rights & Restrictions

Conditions on Access: There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
Conditions on Use: No restrictions on use

Keywords & Subjects

Topical Term: World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Romanian. Altruism--Romania. Holocaust survivors--Romania. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Romania. Jewish ghettos--Ukraine--Chernivtsi. Jews--Persecutions--Romania. Mass burials--Romania. Mass murder--Romania. Synagogues--Destruction and pillage. World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities--Romania. World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Romania. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from Ukraine. World War, 1939-1945--Jews--Rescue--Ukraine. World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Romanian. Men--Personal narratives.
Geographic Name: Bucharest (Romania) Chernivtsi (Ukraine) Khotyn (Ukraine) Romania--History--1914-1944. Romania--Social conditions. Romania.
Personal Name: Tataru, Spiridon.

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: This is a witness interview of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Perpetrators, Collaborators, and Witnesses: The Jeff and Toby Herr Testimony Initiative, a multi-year project to record the testimonies of non-Jewish witnesses to the Holocaust. The interview was directed and supervised by Nathan Beyrak. The interview was received by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives Branch in May 2005.
Funding Note: The production of this interview was made possible by Jeff and Toby Herr.
The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Special Collection: The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive

Record last modified:: 2023-11-16 09:00:35
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn517758

Additional Resources

Transcript (Romanian)

Time Coded Notes (2)

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