Joseph W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2681) [videorecording] / interviewed by Dana L. Kline and Susan Millen, September 21, 1994.

New Haven, Conn. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1994.

1 videorecording (3 hr., 3 min.) : col.

English

Associated material: Weiss, Joseph. Interview 17605. Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation. Access at https://vha.usc.edu.

Videotape testimony of Joseph W., who was born in Przemyśl, Poland in 1922. Mr. W. vividly describes the Jewish environment of his childhood in Krzywcza; attending gymnasium in Przemyśl; the antisemitic atmosphere; Polish anti-Jewish laws; his father's and his own involvement in Zionist activities; German invasion; mass killings; escaping with his family; Soviet occupation; returning to Przemyśl; and the German invasion in 1941. He relates fleeing with his friends; returning to be with his family; anti-Jewish regulations; forced labor; appointment of the Judenrat; deportations; the impact of learning about gassing and 'killing machines'; ghettoization; harsh conditions; the killing of a boy by Schwammburger; his family's decision not to register; hiding; separation from his family during the last round-up; escaping; hiding with his friends in a bunker in the woods with assistance from a Pole; liberation by Soviet troops; mobilization; military training in Ri︠a︡zanʹ; returning to Przemyśl; fleeing with a Zionist group to Romania, then Italy; and emigration to the United States as a yeshiva student. Mr. W. tells of being contacted by the German government and his participation in two war crime trials. He discusses how recalling his life in this testimony prompted other recollections.

June 01, 2002

Joseph W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2681). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Joseph W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2681). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)