Julian M. Holocaust testimony (HVT-890) [videorecording] / interviewed by Kathy Strochlic and Peggy Morton, May 4, 1987.

New York, N.Y. : Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale, 1987.

1 videorecording (1 hr., 51 min) : col.

English

Associated material: Mysels, Julian. Interview 3534. Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation. Access at https://vha.usc.edu.

This testimony may not be used for commercial purposes without prior consent of donor until 2015.

Videotape testimony of Julian M., who was born in Kraków, Poland in 1924. He recalls antisemitism in Polish schools he attended, particularly gymnasium; his father's prewar death; disbelief that conditions in Germany would impact them; German invasion; increasing restrictions and persecution; fleeing with his family to Nowy Wiśnicz; his capture; a forced labor camp in Kraków; transfer to the ghetto; learning all Jews in Nowy Wiśnicz had been liquidated including his family; and his aunt's and cousins' deportation (he lived with them). He describes factory work; obtaining chemicals for people who wished to commit suicide; evacuation of the Kraków ghetto to Płaszow; building railroad tracks for Siemans; transfer to Pionki; working in a munitions factory; transfer to Auschwitz, then Gleiwitz; frequent beatings and hangings; the forced march to Gross Rosen, Bergen-Belsen and Buchenwald; assisting his friend who was killed; atrocities by Ilse Koch; and liberation by Americans in April 1945. He recounts recuperation in Davos, Switzerland; moving to Geneva; joining relatives in New York; illness from a spinal injury incurred during forced labor; and his postwar adjustment. He attributes his survival to luck and reflects on how unprepared the relief community was to help survivors adjust psychologically.

June 01, 2002

Julian M. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-890). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Julian M. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-890). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)