Shmuel S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3320) [videorecording] / interviewed by Anita Tarsi and Roni Stauber, December 26, 1991.

Tel Aviv, Israel : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1991.

1 videorecording (2 hr., 12 min.) : col.

English; Hebrew; Yiddish

This testimony has some Hebrew and Yiddish.

Videotape testimony of Shmuel S., who was born in Kaunas, Lithuania in 1920. He recounts moving to Palestine with his family; living in Rishon le-Tsiyon, Petaḥ Tiḳṿah and Hebron; returning to Kaunas in 1929; Soviet occupation; German invasion; a massacre of Jews prior to the arrival of the Germans; fleeing east with his father and brothers; being overtaken by the Germans; returning home; ghettoization; tensions over housing; smuggling; selections and deportations; surviving a mass execution; sneaking back to the ghetto; forced labor; transfer to Panevėžys; incarceration in Stutthof; obtaining extra food; transfer to Landshut, then to Mühldorf (Waldlager); his physical deterioration; evacuation by train in April 1945; a massacre of prisoners by the SS; escaping with others; and liberation by United States troops. Mr. S. discusses continuing friendship with a friend from the ghetto; his respect for the Kaunas Jewish committee; and witnessing an encounter between the ghetto head, Elkhanan Elkes, and Germans.

June 01, 2002

Shmuel S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3320). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Shmuel S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3320). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)