Description
Object description
Polish Jewish inmate in Łódź Ghetto, Poland, 5/1940-8/1944; inmate in Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 8/1944; forced labourer in Hambuhen-Ovelgonne Subcamp, Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp near Hanover, Germany, 9/1944-1/1945; inmate in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 1/1945-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Łódź, Poland, 1928-1939: family; education; relations between Jews and non-Jews. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Łódź, Poland, 9/1939-5/1940: German invasion of Poland, 9/1939; initial restrictions against Jews; wearing yellow Star of David on clothing; fate of elder brother David and father. Recollections of period as inmate in Łódź Ghetto, Poland, 5/1940-8/1944: move into ghetto; cultural activities; question of resistance against Germans; work in carpet factory; disappearance of other workers.
REEL 2 Continues: witnessing patients taken from ghetto hospital by Germans, 1/9/1942; hiding from Germans in attic, 1/9/1942; escape of brother Peretz from Germans, 1/9/1942; conditions in ghetto; shortage of food; social life; speculation on fate of Gypsies kept in Gypsy Quarter of ghetto; deportation of brother to Hasag-Pelcery Labour Camp, Częstochowa, Poland, 3/1944; suffering of Czech Jews brought into ghetto; start of liquidation of the ghetto, summer, 1944.
REEL 3 Continues: hearing war news from resistance groups; growing vegetables in allotment. Aspects of period as inmate in Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 8/1944: train journey to camp; initial impressions of camp; selection procedure; separation from mother; showering; first night spent in field; meeting school friend; fate of mother.
REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as forced labourer in Hambuhen-Overgonne Subcamp, Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp near Hanover, Germany, 8/1944-2/1945: transfer to camp and work clearing bombed ruins in Hanover; brutality of German commandant SS Oberscharfuhrer Karl Reddehase; provision of clothing and food; cruelty of female guards; kindness of male guards. Recollections of period as inmate in Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 2/1945-4/1945: march to camp, 2/1945; conditions; working in kitchens; prior recollection of brutality of commandant SS Oberscharfuhrer Karl Reddehase at Hambuhen-Ovelgonne Subcamp; collective punishment of kitchen staff; contracting typhoid. Recollections of liberation of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945: rations; policy of forcing Germans to clear corpses; removal to makeshift hospital; coping with lice; kindness of British padre John Davies.
REEL 5 Continues: deaths of inmates after liberation; belief that family members would survive; attitude towards Germans. Reflections on Holocaust experience: benefits for those working in kitchens at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp; question of babies in Łódź Ghetto; post-war employment; question of origins of soap used in Łódź Ghetto; attitude towards Jewish faith.