us-005578-irn1001559
type: RecordSet
biographical history: Seventeen-year-old Frieda Masia resided in Sosnowiec, Poland at the outbreak of WWII. She began working in a Jewish hospital as a nurse after the Nazis occupied Sosnowiec. Masia saw Jews starved, beaten, burned alive, and executed, regardless of age. She belonged to the Jewish underground, and was a leader in the Zionist youth movement. After a particularly bad 'action' against the Jews, Mordechai Znielewicz of Warsaw and Eliezer Geller, two leaders of the Jewish underground met with Masia, and informed her about the Nazi extermination efforts. She organized Jewish resistance, and also managed to smuggle out several boys and girls to Germany dressed as Aryan workers. In September 1942, Masia was sent to Auschwitz by the Jewish underground to establish connections with the underground movement at Auschwitz. She returned to Sosnowiec unsuccessful. Masia escaped to Slovakia in 1943, and was eventually saved after a long period of wandering. In 1961, Masi lived in Israel. Emil Knebel was a cinematographer known for Andante (2010), Adam (1973), and Wild Is My Love (1963). He was one of the cameramen who recorded daily coverage of the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem (produced by Capital Cities Broadcasting Corp and later held academic positions in Israel and New York teaching filmmaking at universities. Refer to CV in file. Dr. Aharon Peretz, a lived and practiced gynecology in Kovno, Lithuania when the German-Soviet war began. In August 1941, Peretz was forced into the Kovno Ghetto, where he remained 1944, when he was transferred to the Stutthof concentration camp. For the next three years, Peretz experienced many atrocities, all of which he called a 'pogrom.' Jews were beaten, starved, and killed; Peretz treated many women who had been sexually assaulted by SS officers. In 1942, an order was given banning pregnancies and births. Peretz was forced to conduct many abortive surgeries on Jewish women, as well as assist in secret deliveries. The SS conducted the 'children action…
date: 1961 May 04
has or had holder: us-005578
has or had identifier: 2
has or had identifier: 1
has or had some members with language: deu
has or had some members with language: heb
has or had some members with language: eng
has record set type: Item
identifier: irn1001559
note: See official transcripts, published in"The Trial of Adolf Eichman", Vol. I-V, State of Israel, Ministry of Justice, Jerusalem, 1994, pp. 446, 447, 449, 451, 453, 455, 460, 461, 466, 476, 478-480, 483, 484. Also available online at the Nizkor Project.
scope and content: Sessions 27 and 28. Witness Frieda Masia, a leader in the Zionist youth movement and member of the Jewish underground, recounts an incident in which Harry Blumerfracht, a member of the Zionist youth movement attempted to steal weapons from a German plant-owner. The plan failed, and Masia states:"...they took hold of Harry and arrested him. Harry was tortured in a horrible way" There is a blip at 00:03:50. Witness Dr. Meir Mark Dworzecki, survivor of Vilna Ghetto and five Estonian concentration camps, discusses 'malines' [hiding places] in the Vilna Ghetto. He states:"... an underground town was established. Every simple house had a built-in hideout.." Attorney General Gideon Hausner questions Dworzecki about certificates; Dworzecki describes how families were separated because the Nazis did not distribute enough certificates. This insufficiency forced him to choose between his own wife and mother. Blip at 00:08:49. Dworzecki is asked to identify the 'Lebensschein' [yellow certificates], which the court numbers T/276. Dworzecki explains that the certificate:"... promised life for a few months or years to a person in the ghetto.." Furthermore, Dworzecki clarifies that Nazi gave pink certificates to families (T/277) and blue certificates to children (T/278). Dworzecki recounts a selection day; he possessed a family certificate, which allowed him to register a spouse and two children. As he and his wife did not have children, Dworzecki registered his younger sister as his child, and an orphan boy he met on the way to registration. Following a blip at 00:12:27, Hausner questions Dworzecki about diseases in the Vilna ghetto, and subsequent repercussions. After another blip at 00:17:50, Dworzecki describes how the Nazis marched his camp toward the sea with the intention of drowning everyone. The Jews staged an escape attempt; thousands scattered but that night only 83 were found. Dworzecki recounts his liberation by the French Army, and the tape skips after a blip at 00:21…
title: Eichmann Trial -- Sessions 27 and 28 -- Testimonies of F. Masia, M. Dworzecki, A. Kovner, A. Peretz