Description
Object description
Polish Jewish inmate in Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 9/1942-1/1945, Gross-Rosen and Buchenwald Concentration Camps, Germany, 1/1945-4/1945 and Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 4/1945-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Będzin, Poland, 1930-1939: family; education. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Będzin, Poland, 1939-1942: arrival of German Army, 9/1939; restrictions imposed on Jewish civilians; atrocities carried out by Germans against Jews; relations between Jews and Poles prior to 1939; German taking over of Jewish businesses after 1939; attempt to organise Jewish resistance; rounding up of Jewish population; orders to report to football ground, 9/1942; imprisonment of mother for not wearing Star of David.
REEL 2 Continues: hiding during round up; taking away of his family. Recollections of period as inmate of Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 9/1942-1/1945: train journey to and arrival at camp; selection; sight of hanged escapees; escape attempts; and allocation of camp number, showering and issue of striped clothing; his discovery that he was to be experimented on; securing job as messenger; forcible blood donations; castration of his cousin by Germans; execution of inmates for petty crimes; how his life was saved by German Communist inmate.
REEL 3 Continues: types of work engaged in; layout of camp; three attempts to hang Czech officer; further details of work; description of 'Canada'; inmate who was discovered with vodka bottle; camp brothel; rounding up for gas chambers; his escape from gas chambers, early 1944; presence of Volksdeutsche civilians in camp; question of religion in camp; change of his name on arrival in camp; brutality of guards; suffering of inmates from diarrhoea; suffering from cold and thirst.
REEL 4 Continues: arrival and treatment of gypsies; types of badges worn by inmates; unpopularity of criminal inmates; homosexuals in camp; presence of Jehovahs Witnesses and Mormons in camp; lack of insomnia; stealing cigarettes. Aspects of period as inmate in Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp, Germany, 1/1945-2/1945: shooting of stragglers on march westwards to camp, 1/1945; behaviour of criminal kapos; reuniting with his brother; cannibalism amongst Soviet prisoners of war. Aspects of period as inmate in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 2/1945-4/1945: beneficial influence of political inmates; saving of his brother's life; shooting of inmates in batches.
REEL 5 Continues: character of train journey from Buchenwald Concentration Camp to Czechoslovakia. Aspects of period as inmate in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 4/1945-5/1945: behaviour of Czech civilians toward inmates; handling of guards by Czech Partisans; arrival of Red Cross; how his life was saved by Russian doctor; deaths from over eating; long term effects of captivity. Reflections of period as inmate in Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, Buchenwald and Theresienstadt Concentration Camps in Poland, Germany and Czechoslovakia, 1942-1945: strong position of political inmates in Buchenwald; behaviour of Polish political inmates in Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Buchenwald; question of power of German political inmates in Buchenwald; how his brother slept standing up in Gross-Rosen; attitude towards Germans; an act of kindness shown him by Schutzstaffel (SS) man in Auschwitz II-Birkenau; disclaiming of responsibility by Germans in Theresienstadt on liberation.
REEL 6 Continues: beating of German guards by inmates on liberation of Theresienstadt, 5/1945.