Description
Object description
Polish Jewish inmate in Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto, Poland, 1940-1941; forced labourer in Belzec-Lubelski and Warez Labour Camps, Poland, 1941-1942; inmate in Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto, Poland, 1942-1944; forced labourer in Hasag-Raskow Labour Camp, Czestochowa, Poland, 10/1944-1/1945; inmate in Buchenwald, Mittelbau-Dora and Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camps, Germany, 1/1945-4/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland, 1926-1939: family circumstances; education; incidents of anti-Semitism experienced during education; question of emigrating from Poland. Recollections of German invasion and occupation of Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland, 1939: German Air Force bombing, 1/9/1939; his forced labour digging mass grave for German dead, 9/1939. Aspects of period as inmate in Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto, Poland, 1940-1941: establishment of ghetto, 1/1940; use of non-Jewish appearance to move outside ghetto. Recollections of period as forced labourer in Belzec-Lubelski and Warez Labour Camps, Poland, 1941-1942: removal to Belzec-Lubelsk Labour Camp; digging anti-tank fortifications; transfer to Warez Labour Camp; method of returning to ghetto. Recollections of period as inmate in Piotrków Trybunalski Ghetto, Poland, 1942-1944: obtaining work in glass factory; behaviour of Jewish Police; narrow escape from execution in synagogue; conditions in glass factory. Recollections of period as forced labourer in Hasag-Raskow Labour Camp, Czestochowa, Poland, 10/1944-1/1945: removal to camp, 10/1944; work in iron foundy; Pole who aided him; approach of Soviet Army, 1/1945. Aspects of period as inmate in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 1/1945: journey to camp
REEL 2 Continues: processing of inmates. Recollections of period as inmate in Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp, Germany, 1/1945-4/1945: arrival at camp; executions; work on V weapons; inspection by German Very Important Person (VIP); Germans burning of documents, 4/1945. Aspects of journey from Dora Concentration Camp to Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945: march to Hamburg; German abortive attempts to drown inmates and execution of Hungarian Jews. Aspects of period as inmate at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 4/1945: lack of facilities on arrival in camp; massacre by guards two days before liberation; liberation by British troops. Aspects of period as Displaced Person in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Germany, 4/1945-10/1945: decision to return to Poland to search for relatives; experiences in Berlin, Germany; crossing into Poland; aid from repatriation committee at Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland; obtaining permit to leave Poland; working in Czechoslovakia.
REEL 3 Continues: behaviour of Czechs to Polish Jews; attempt to emigrate to US; move to Displaced Person camp in Munich, Germany; obtaining clerical job with United Nations Relief and Rehabiliation Administration (UNRRA); emigrating to GB, 10/1945.