Paul S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1743) [videorecording] / interviewed by Devorah Mann, December 10, 1990.

New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1990.

1 videorecording (1 hr., 57 min.) : col.

English

Associated material: Sharakan, Paul. Interview 39765. Visual History Archive, USC Shoah Foundation. Access at https://vha.usc.edu.

Videotape testimony of Paul S., who was born in Vilna, Poland (presently Vilnius, Lithuania) in 1932, an only child. He recalls a close relationship with his maternal grandparents who lived with them; antisemitic harassment; Soviet occupation; German invasion; confiscation of the family businesses and apartment; a German soldier allowing him and his mother to sleep there to avoid round-ups; ghettoization; attending school and cultural events; visiting his grandparents in the small ghetto; its liquidation shortly thereafter (he never saw them again); hiding during round-ups; rumors of mass killings in Ponary; transfer with his parents and relatives to H.K.P.; hiding during round-ups of children (his younger cousin was taken); posing as an adult and working; hiding with his parents, relatives, and others when H.K.P. was liquidated in 1944; the shooting of a couple whose screaming would have exposed them; escaping with his parents and relatives; being hidden by his father's business acquaintance; liberation by partisans, then Soviet troops; living in Vilnius for a year; moving to Białystok, Łódź, then Budapest, part of organized illegal emigration to Palestine; his bar mitzvah in July 1945; living in Oradea for six months; moving to displaced persons camps in Graz, Bindermichl, then Badgastein; attending school; joining Betar; contacting relatives in the United States; moving to Vienna; emigration via Bremerhaven to the United States in December 1948; and establishing a career and family. Mr. S. discusses the importance of his parents to his survival (his father died recently); realizing how lucky he was; and pleasant memories of prewar and ghetto life. He shows photographs and documents.

June 01, 2002

Paul S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1743). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Paul S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1743). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)