Coenraad R. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Coenraad R., who was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1917, one of six children. He recalls being the only Jew in his public school; training as a tailor; military draft in 1939; German invasion in 1940; his father's death; marriage in September; organizing resistance through his socialist youth group; forced labor in 1942; transfer to Westerbork; deportation to Cosel (his wife, mother, and sister had already been deported), then Gleiwitz; staying with Dutch prisoners (there were conflicts with Poles); a higher death rate for the Dutch; remaining with one neighborhood friend; a death march in January 1945; train transfer through Czechoslovakia; Czechs throwing them food; observing destroyed German cities; incarceration at Sachsenhausen, Flossenbu?rg, Kaufering, and Landsberg; slave labor in an airplane factory; sabotaging their work; his friend's death in an Allied bombing (everyone in the truck was killed but him); losing his will to live without his friend; liberation by United States troops; returning to Holland in June; antisemitism from Dutch and Germans; reunion with his wife; and emigration to the United States. Mr. R. discusses concentration camp life; emotional difficulties resulting from his experiences; testifying at war crime trials; and sharing his experiences with his children.
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
- R., Coenraad, -- 1917-
Corporate Bodies
- Landsberg (Concentration camp)
- Kaufering (Concentration camp)
- FlossenbuĚrg (Concentration camp)
- Sachsenhausen (Concentration camp)
- Westerbork (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Dutch.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Jewish.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Forced labor.
- Death marches.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Friendship.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar effects.
- Mutual aid.
- Antisemitism -- Postwar.
Places
- Cosel (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Gleiwitz (Poland : Concentration camp)
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- Netherlands.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat