Louis D. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 0492
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Louis D., who was born in Velyikyy Bychkiv, Russia (presently Ukraine) in approximately 1911, one of six brothers. He recounts his family's poverty; working in construction in Brno; military enlistment in 1929; discharge in 1933; his successful business; German invasion; obtaining papers as a non-Jew; deportation to Velyikyy Bychkiv; draft into a Hungarian slave labor battalion in Kiev; transfer home; deportation with his family to Auschwitz; transfer with two brothers to Fu?nfteichen; slave labor in a Krupp factory; extraction of his brother's gold crowns to obtain privileged work; a death march via Gross-Rosen to Dachau; sharing food and encouraging his brother; liberation by United States troops; traveling to Plzen?; reunion with another brother; a brief visit to Velyikyy Bychkiv; serving in the Czech military in Prague; discharge after nine months; recovering his business; marriage in 1946; arrest by Soviets as a capitalist in 1949; imprisonment in Litome?r?ice for nine months; escaping to Vienna; his wife and children joining him; living in a displaced persons camp; and emigration via Hamburg to Montre?al in 1950, then to the United States in 1953. Mr. D. discusses nightmares resulting from his experiences; losing all his teeth when beaten in camp; no assistance when he arrived in the U.S.; and financial struggles, despite his present success.

Extent and Medium

2 videocassettes

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

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Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.