Description
Object description
Polish Jewish civilian in Staszów and inmate in Staszów Ghetto, Poland, 9/1939-9/1942; forced labourer in Kielce Labour Camp and Hasag-Pelcery Labour Camp, Czestochowa, Poland, 9/1942-1/1945; inmate in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 1/1945-2/1945 and Rehmsdorf Subcamp, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 2/1945-4/1945 and Theresienstadt Concentration Camp; Czechoslovakia, 4/1945-5/1945
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of background in Staszów, Poland, 1928-1939: family circumstances; Polish anti-Semitism; religious character of family; living conditions. Recollections of period as civillian in Staszów and inmate in Staszów Ghetto, Poland, 9/1939-9/1942: entry of German Army into Staszów, 7/9/1939; rumours that Germans would shoot Jews in street; establishment on restrictions on where Jewish families could live, 10/1939; buying supplies outside town; disappearance of brother who volunteered to work in Skarszysko-Kamienna Labour Camp; Poles' handing over of Jewish children to Germans; awareness of what happened in concentration camps, 1942; attempt to hide in cellar during liquidation of ghetto, 9/1942. Recollections of period as forced labourer in Kielce Labour Camp, Poland, 9/1942-8/1944: living conditions; role as servant to Kapo; different work regimes for Poles and Jews; punishment for trading potatoes; selection of parents and sister; protection from Jewish Kapo; state of inmates' health; behaviour of Ukrainian guards.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of period as forced labourer in Hasag-Pelcery Labour Camp, Czestochowa, Poland, 8/1944-1/1945: removal to camp, 8/1944; question of impossibility of escape; nationalities of camp guards and police; presence of Polish workers; belief that war would soon be over. Aspects of period as inmate in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 1/1945-2/1945: reception and processing of new arrivals, 1/1945; size and composition of camp; conditions in camp. Recollections of period as inmate in Rehmsdorf Subcamp, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 2/1945-4/1945: fate of Hungarian Jews; reaction to Allied bombing of Brabag coal-petrol production factory; role digging out unexploded bombs; foraging for food. Recollections of journey from Rehmsdorf Concentration Camp, Germany to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 4/1945: Allied bombing of train; raids on German houses for food; conditions on march to Theresienstadt. Aspects of period as inmate in Theresienstadt Concentration Camp, Czechoslovakia, 4/1945-5/1945: arrival in camp; character of camp; liberation by Soviet Army, 8/5/1945; effects of suffering from overeating.
REEL 3 Continues: treatment recieved in camp hospital. Recollections of period as refugee in GB, 1945-1950: move to GB via Prague, Czechoslovakia; disposition of Jewish refugees at Windermere to different parts of GB; reasons for choosing Manchester to live; abortive plan to emigrate to Argentina; story of how sister Hela travelled to US; reasons for choosing to stay in GB; obtaining employment in Manchester, 1951; life in religious hostel in Manchester; shortage of money. Aspects of period as businessman in Manchester, GB, 1951-1995: establishing himself in fur trade during 1950s; expansion of his business during 1960s.
REEL 4 Continues: starting handbag factory, 1962; how his business was hit by Far East competition during 1980s. Opinion of aid given to refugees by British people.