Howard F. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Howard F., who was born in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in 1910. Mr. F. speaks of his childhood in a "typical German-Jewish, upper-middle-class family"; his father's friendship with department store magnate David May; regarding his best friend's anti-Semitic remarks as a fact of life; difficulties seeking membership in a local club; attending Nazi rallies to learn the identities of regional party leaders; attending Munich University, where he represented Jews in the student parliament; returning to his parents' home in Saarbru?cken after graduation; and leaving his first job before the Saar plebiscite of 1935. He relates working as a legal and emigration affairs advisor in Frankfurt for the Centralverein; Kristallnacht; arrest and incarceration in Buchenwald; release in December 1938, after his father secured an affidavit from David May's son, who later refused to hire him in America; living for a year as a "quasi-adopted" son with a family in Oxford; arrival in America in 1940; a friend helping him obtain a loan for his parents' steamship passage; working for Selfhelp and other Jewish organizations; and his successful career in insurance brokerage and international finance.
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
- F., Howard, -- 1910-
- May, David, -- 1848?-1927.
Corporate Bodies
- Centralverein Deutscher Staatsbürger Jüdischen Glaubens.
- Universität München.
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Jews -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Germany.
- Citizenship -- Germany.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Refugees.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Nuremberg laws.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Germany -- Emigration and immigration.
- Saarland (Germany) -- History.
- Kaiserslautern (Germany)
- Saarbrücken (Germany)
- Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
- Oxford (England)
- Germany.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- ftamc