Interview with Josef Perl

Czechoslovakian Jewish civilian transported from Czechoslovakia to Poland, 1940-1941; inmate of Kraków-Plaszów and Auschwitz II-Birkenau Concentration Camps, Poland, Dachau, Bergen-Belsen, Gross-Rosen Concentration Camps, Blakenhain and Herzberg Subcamps, Buchenwald Concentration Camp and Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 1942-1945

REEL 1 Recollections of background in Velicky Bochkov, Czechoslovakia, 1930-1939: family circumstances; religious beliefs; lack of anti-Semitism experienced; incidents of family life. Recollections of Hungarian annexation of Velicky Bochkov area, Czechoslovakia, 1939-1940: effects on education; reaction to anti-Semitic behaviour of gentile friends; incident when his ringlets were cut off by soldiers; refusal to go to school; round up of Jewish civilians by Hungarians, 1940; ordering of Jews into crowded synagogue; Hungarian treatment of Jews. Aspects of train journey from Czechoslovakia to Poland, 1940: conditions on board train. REEL 2 Continues: Recollections of period as inmate in tented internment camp in Poland, 1940: conditions in tented camp; witnessing shooting of Jewish committee; foraging for food with small team of boys; internal searches for valuables; pact made with father if either was beaten; witnessing evacuation of tented internment camp whilst foraging for food. Recollections of period searching for parents in Poland, 1940-1941: hiding in forest; advantage of looking Aryan and fluency in languages; mixing with anti-Semitic Polish boys to gain information about parent's whereabouts; gaining entrance into ghetto; escape from ghetto through sewers. Account of capture by Schutzstaffel (SS) and shooting of family in forest, Poland, 1941: capture and march to forest; sight of family being shot; escape during air raid warning; finding rotten sack; reaction to shootings; finding farm work. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of period as inmate in Kraków-Plaszów Concentration Camp, Poland, 1942: character of train journey to Kraków; move to camp; command structure of camp; behaviour of commandant Amon Goeth; reaction to beating received from Amon Goeth; work digging huge pit; presence of Schutzstaffel (SS) dog which lived off human flesh; nature of food. Recollections of period as inmate in Auschwitz II-Birkenau, Poland, 1942: arrival procedure; determination to stay alive and volunteering for anything to keep busy; running gauntlet of criminals; smell of camp; adopting a policy of living one day at a time. Recollections of period as inmate in Dachau Concentration Camp, Germany, 1943: contrast in conditions between camp and Auschwitz II-Birkenau; role piling dead bodies; move to kitchen block. REEL 4 Continues: delousing incident. Recollections of period as inmate of Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany, 1943: nature of camp; description of Stern section; work in kitchen; question of how Schultzstaffel (SS) put up with camp stench; behaviour of Hitler Youth. Various aspects of period as inmate at Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp, Germany, late 1943 including character of camp. Recollections of period of inmate in Blankenhain Subcamp, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 1944: beating for not being tattooed; faith in survival; light engineering job; selection as youth leader; question of not making close relationships; faith in God; incident of asking favour from sadistic factory commandant; camp underground movement; story of abortive attempt to blow up work section and subsequent torture; story of return visit to Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp to attend public hanging and escape including vision of mother. REEL 5 Continues: Continues: story of being shot in leg by Schutzstaffel (SS) man after escaping and merging into column of camp inmates. Aspects of period as inmate at Herzberg Subcamp, Buchenwald Concentration Camp, 1944: character of camp; jumping test employed. Aspects of journey from Herzberg am Harz to Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany: inmate casualties; making igloo out of dead bodies and living off snow. Aspects of period as inmate in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, Germany, 1945: treatment of former Kapos; move to Block 66; liberation of camp by United States Army troops; physical condition on liberation; caution about overeating; outbreak of typhoid; move of young people to Block 8; contrasting attitudes between younger and older inmates; story of how four Schutzstaffel (SS) men were shot by a Soviet Army officer. Recollections of period as Displaced Person in Czechoslovakia, 1945: making his way to Prague; obtaining United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) meal ticket; behaviour of Czech civilians in Prague. REEL 6 Continues: chaotic nature of travel; confrontation with former employee of father who had taken over family home; searching for family; return to Prague via Hungary; encounter with partisans; medical problems; attempts to get included amongst 'The Boys'. Recollections of period as refugee in GB, 1946-1947: journey from Czechoslovakia to GB, via Switzerland and Paris, France, 1946; arrival at Newhaven; move to shelter in London; replastering of leg; visit to Brighton. REEL 7 Continues: kindness of Jewish hosts in Brighton; support received from Mr Rosen. Recollections of medical treatment for leg injuries, 1947-1950: nature of injury and treatment; successful operation. Recollections of period as refugee in GB after 1950 move to Industrial Rehabilitation Centre; character of establishment; organising dance; obtaining City and Guilds in dress design; return to thank his Jewish hosts. REEL 8 Continues: relationship with refugee group 'The Boys'. Recollections of search for family: hearing that his two sisters and father had survived; reunion with sisters in Israel, 1954; meeting with former camp inmate in Jerusalem, Israel; tracing father still living in Velicky Bochkov, Czechoslovakia; problems of achieving family reunion in Budapest, Hungary, 1946; story of how father eventually left Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union for Israel. REEL 9 Continues: attempts to re-establish relationship with father. Reflections on Holocaust experiences: how his own children coped with his experiences; exploration of his great maturity as ten year old; factors for surviving as well-balanced individual; importance of faith; long-term effects.