Bernard L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Bernard L., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland, in 1922. He recalls his childhood in the large family of a prominent hat manufacturer; hiding in a small town in late 1939; returning to the ?o?dz? ghetto; and being taken with a cousin to a labor camp near Frankfurt an der Oder. He relates working as a railroad fireman; being given food by a German; transfer to a camp at Brieskow-Finkenheerd; his cousin's death from malnutrition; traveling under guard to Berlin to retrieve clothing and valuables from the Jewish Gemeinde; and transfer to Auschwitz in 1942. Mr. L. describes his selection by Josef Mengele for labor at I. G. Farben's Buna-Monowitz and conditions there including selections, summary executions, the social order and smuggling vodka and jewelry to obtain food. He recalls the death march from Auschwitz; transport to Buchenwald in 1945; escaping by posing as a Wehrmacht volunteer; hiding with a Czech farmer; his postwar decision to go to Paris; reunion with two surviving brothers in Munich in 1947; and emigration to the United States. He considers the significance of President Ronald Reagan's 1985 visit to Bitburg.
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
- Reagan, Ronald -- Travel -- Germany (West) -- Bitburg -- Public opinion.
- L., Bernard, -- 1922-
Corporate Bodies
- Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie Aktiengesellschaft.
- Monowitz (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Forced labor.
- Visits of state -- Germany (West)
- Jewish ghettos.
- Jews -- Poland -- Łódź.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Anniversaries, etc.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Jews -- Germany -- Social life and customs.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Public opinion.
- Death marches.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
Places
- Paris (France)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Łódź ghetto.
- Munich (Germany)
- Łódź (Poland)
- Poland.
- Brieskow-Finkenheerd (Germany)
- Frankfurt an der Oder (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat