Peter D. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Peter D., who was born in Germany in 1936. He recalls that his father emigrated to Shanghai shortly before or after his birth; living with his mother in Berlin; staying home alone while she worked; their arrest and deportation to Terezín; living in the children's compound; seeing his mother every other weekend; moving boxes and finding one full of skulls; liberation; and survivors forcing a German into a bonfire. He describes returning to Berlin with his mother and stepfather (she married in Theresienstadt); moving to Deggendorf displaced persons camp; antisemitism in the public school; their emigration to the United States in 1947; his mother's inability to return to normal; physical abuse by his mother; leaving home at age fourteen; traveling around the United States; and continuing his education when he was in his twenties. He discusses his passivity in personal interactions; his relationship with his mother; lack of knowledge about his father; hopes of improving his relationship with his thirteen year old son, who lives with a former wife; forming his first close relationship with his current wife; and participation in Jewish activities with her.

2 videocassettes