Simon A. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2960) [videorecording] / interviewed by Leo Spitzer and Marianne Hirsch, March 25, 1995.

La Paz, Bolivia : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1995.

1 videorecording (1 hr., 24 min.) : col.

Spanish

Videotape testimony of Simon A., who was born in Polichna, Poland in 1936, one of nine children. He recalls his family's orthodoxy; an older brother's emigration to Bolivia; German invasion; his father's conscription for forced labor; expulsion from their home; his father's return; escaping a round-up by hiding with non-Jewish neighbors; living in forests and with non-Jewish farmers in stables and barns; assistance from an impoverished Communist family; two older brothers seeking food nightly and not returning (they never saw them again); assistance from a former Jewish neighbor who had escaped; digging bunkers; liberation by Soviet troops in July 1944; reclaiming their house; Polish nationalists blowing it up; moving to Kraśnik; antisemitic violence; and joining his brother in Bolivia in 1947 via Paris and Rio de Janeiro. Mr. A. notes their starvation, infestation with lice, skin diseases, and lack of sanitation while they were hiding for thirty months; believing they were saved due to miracles and God; and assistance from many non-Jews due to his mother's generosity and kindness.

June 01, 2002

Simon A. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2960). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Simon A. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2960). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)