Zylberszac, Aron (Oral history)

Polish Jewish inmate of Lodz Ghetto, Poland, 10/1940-8/1944; inmate of Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 9/1944-1/1945 and Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 2/1945; forced labourer in Rehmsdorf Subcamp, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 2/1945-4/1945; inmate in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 4/1944-5/1945

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Lodz, Poland, 1927-1939: family circumstances; education; relations between Jews and non-Jews. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Lodz, Poland 1939-1940: reaction to German search of home; role of Volksdeutsch; collaboration of Poles with Germans; survival of family after confiscation of business; public execution of Jews; German behaviour towards Jews. Recollections of period as inmate in Lodz Ghetto, 10/1940-8/1944: setting up of ghetto, 1940; overcrowding and starvation. REEL 2 Continues: suffering from cold; character of ghetto administration; fate of deportees; cases of madness; lack of contact with outside; attempts at sabotage; character of religious life; destruction of synagogue. Recollections of period as inmate in Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp, Poland, 9/1944-1/1945: separation from parents; wait outside crematorium; killing of children; overcrowding; character of train journey from Lodz to Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp; confiscation of valuables; German divide and rule tactics; behaviour of kapos. REEL 3 Continues: removal of skilled Jewish tradesman; treatment of Gypsies; prior recollections of Germans throwing children from Lodz Ghetto windows; contrast in food between ghetto and camp; prior recollections of work and payment in Lodz Ghetto; food and selections; work in factory; supervision of work. Recollections of journey from Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Poland to Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 1/1945: German reaction to approach of Russians; prior recollection of narrow escape from shooting by Germans in Lodz, 1939; shooting of stragglers; character of train journey; question of difficulty of understanding Holocaust experience without direct experience of it. REEL 4 Continues: Aspects of period as inmate in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 2/1945: conditions in camp; character of supervision; killing of kapos from other camps by inmates. Recollections of period as forced labourer in Rehmsdorf Subcamp, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 2/1945-4/1945: work in sand pits; necessity of conserving energy in camps; pollution of water supply. Recollections of period as inmate and liberation in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 4/1945-5/1945: Allied bombing of train during journey to camp; German use of camp for propaganda; generosity of Czechs towards inmates; attitude towards Germans; reaction to liberation, 5/1945; attitude of Soviet liberators; psychological disturbance on release. REEL 5 Continues: Reflections on Holocaust experience: long term effects of incarceration; effect of experiences on religious belief; behaviour of German guards; behaviour of inmates towards each other; lack of belief in survival; incident of youth executed for taking leather into Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp; crime in Lodz Ghetto; cases of cannibalism amongst Soviet POWs; growth in Zionism; details of family.