Marianne B. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Marianne B., who was born in Breslau, Germany. She recalls family participation in the city's high culture; her father's strong German identity; the importance of music in the family; their affluent lifestyle; emigration to Paris to join her future husband; and her sister's marriage in England in 1938. Ms. B. describes learning of her father's incarceration in Buchenwald; his release as a broken man; her parents emigrating to England; her father's hospitalization in a mental institution; his release; subsequent suicide attempts; and his internment on the Isle of Wight when war broke out. She recounts her husband's French army service in North Africa; her association with an American businessman in February 1940 (he had been blessed by the Pope which Ms. B. believes explains why he helped her); incarceration in Gurs in spring 1940; keeping a diary (now in the Leo Baeck Institute); learning of her father's suicide; receiving money from the American businessman which enabled her to be released; and emigrating to the United States from Nice in 1941 with a visa he provided. She discusses the importance of her university studies and the significance of music in her life.

1 videocassette (3/4" u-matic)