Leopold S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3699) [videorecording] / interviewed by Peter Salner and Ingrid Králová, December 9, 1995.

Bratislava, Slovakia : Milan Šimečka Foundation, 1995.

1 videorecording (1 hr., 48 min.) : col.

Slovak

Videotape testimony of Leopold S., who was born in Sládkovičovo, Czechoslovakia (presently Slovakia) in 1927, the older of two sons. He recalls his grandparents living with them; looting of Jewish property during the Hungarian occupation in 1938; his father's death in 1939; he and his brother working as landscapers; deportation with his family to Galanta in May 1944; transfer to Nové Zámky, then Auschwitz/Birkenau two weeks later; separation from his family (he never saw them again); claiming to be older to join an older group (no one from the younger group survived); transfer to Melk; slave labor in an airplane factory; breaking his leg; hospitalization; transfer to Ebensee in December; liberation by United States troops in May; assignment to a displaced persons camp in Linz; returning home via Prague and Bratislava; joining an uncle in Budapest; volunteering for military service in 1949; serving until 1953; marriage; and the births of two sons. Mr. S. discusses the trauma of separation from his family; the importance to his survival of being with a strong friend and not losing hope; painful memories when visiting Birkenau and Mauthausen; and not sharing details of his experiences with his children.

June 01, 2002

Leopold S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3699). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Leopold S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3699). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)