Zwirek, Abraham (Oral history)

Polish Jewish schoolchild in Plock, Poland, 9/1939-9/1940; inmate in Plock and Suchedniow Ghettos, Poland, 9/1940-9/1942; forced labourer in Skarzysko-Kamienna Labour Camp, Poland, 9/1942-7/1944; inmate in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 8/1944-9/1944; forced labourer in Schlieben Subcamp, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 9/1944-4/1945; inmate in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 4/1945-5/1945

REEL 1 Background in Plock, Poland, 1926-1939: family; education; anti-Semitism experienced; family business; question of loyalty to Poland; anti-Semitism in pre-war Poland; family's Zionist sympathies and religious practices. Aspects of German invasion of Poland, 9/1939: reaction to outbreak of war, 9/1939; German air raid on Plock; sight of destruction of Gabin; expectation of British and French help; initial impressions of German troops. Aspects of period as schoolchild in Plock, 1939-1940: confiscation of Jewish property; Germanisation of town. REEL 2 Continues: confiscation of father's business; confiscation of property from family home; restrictions on Jewish movement; beatings of Jews on streets. Aspects of period as inmate in Plock Ghetto, 9/1940-2/1941: smuggling food into ghetto; behaviour of Jewish Police; food rations; state of health of ghetto inmates; treatment of inmates by German guards; obligation to work for Germans and treatment of workers; maintenance of morale; religious practice; deterioration of conditions in ghetto, early 1941. REEL 3 Continues: liquidation of ghetto, 2/1941. Aspects of period at Suchedniow Ghetto in Poland, 3/1941-9/1942: move into ghetto; obtaining food from outside ghetto; escaping from ghetto; transportation of mother to Treblinka Extermination Camp, 9/1942. Recollections of period as inmate in Skarzysko-Kamienna Labour Camp, Poland, 9/1942-7/1944: march to camp; work duties; beating he received from Ukrainian guard for stealing potatoes; heavy labour; beating received from SS guard. REEL 4 Continues: execution of people unfit for work; how his tooth was extracted; execution of escapers; suicides in camp; leaving camp, 7/1944. Aspects of period as inmate in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 8/1944-9/1944: processing of inmates on arrival; effects of having hair shaved; work dishing out food. Recollections of period as forced labourer in Schlieben Subcamp, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 9/1944-4/1945: lecture by camp commandant on arrival; work duties; bread and cigarettes received from German workman; kindness of German construction supervisor in quarry after an accident; Allied bombing raids on camp; suicide of fellow inmate; behaviour of female SS guard. REEL 5 Continues: operation on hand without anaesthetic; news of progress of war; suspected sabotage of factory; opinion of camp commandant; evacuation of camp, 4/1945. Aspects of period as inmate in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 4/1945-5/1945: conditions during train journey to camp; contracting typhoid; impressions of camp; liberation of camp by Soviet Army; death of former inmates from over eating; contracting mumps; Soviet attitude towards revenge against Germans; fate of family during Holocaust. REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period as inmate in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 7/1944-9/1944: nature of camp; conditions during train journey to camp; lice problem; behaviour of inmates towards each other; inmate age groups that had better chance of survival; fatigue and question of survival; fate of Hungarian and German arrivals. Reflections on Holocaust experience: attitude towards Poles and Germans; effect of experiences on attitude to life; story of how Soviet Army soldier smuggled him from Poland to Czechoslovakia; initial impressions of GB on arrival.