John B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of John B., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1906. He describes having to wear a star, forced labor, and segregation; being caught in 1943 in the Berlin Aktion; transport to Auschwitz; working in Monowitz, a subcamp of Auschwitz, as a slave laborer for I. G. Farben; hunger and public hangings; and evacuation to Gleiwitz in January 1945. He recalls being saved by a Nazi soldier from a mass execution; pretending to be dead and escaping at night to a Polish farm; being saved by the Polish farmer who also aided ten other Jews; liberation by Russian soldiers; traveling to ?o?dz? and Cze?stochowa to seek family; working for five months for a Russian farmer; returning to Berlin; marrying a survivor who had been sterilized in Auschwitz; and emigration to the United States. Mr. B. discusses his feeling that his survival was a miracle since no one else in his family survived; his strong will to live in the worst of conditions; his return to Germany in 1970 and subsequent trips; and his feeling that he cannot hate the German people because if he carries hate within himself he is not happy.
Extent and Medium
2 videocassettes (3/4" u-matic)
Conditions Governing Access
This testimony is open with permission.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright has been transferred to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Use of this testimony requires permission of the Fortunoff Video Archive.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- B., John, -- 1906-
Corporate Bodies
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie Aktiengesellschaft.
- Monowitz (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Forced labor.
- Mass killings.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
Places
- Gleiwitz (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Częstochowa (Poland)
- Germany.
- Łódź (Poland)
- Berlin (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- ftamc