Ismar R. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Ismar R., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1926. He recounts his father's prosperous business; his normal childhood prior to Nazism; expulsion from public school; attending Jewish school; hiding during Kristallnacht; revocation of his father's citizenship, brief incarceration, and his death; attending an ORT school; work in a munitions factory; sabotage attempts; and hiding with his family. Mr. R. describes numerous instances of assistance from non-Jews; hiding with his mother in different places using false documents; befriending a German girl; his arrest; refusing to identify hidden Jews as Stella Goldschlag had; escape from a transport to Auschwitz; returning to Berlin; learning his mother was in his girlfriend's parents' cottage; hiding with his mother; moving after destruction of one hiding place by Allied bombing; liberation by Soviet troops; learning his brother, who was also in hiding, was in a hospital; his own hospitalization; and emigration to the United States in 1946. He discusses adjusting to life in a new country; the gathering of survivors in 1983; his aspiration to relay his experience so people will learn the truth about the Holocaust; and marking the fortieth anniversary of his liberation by volunteering in Israel.
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., Ismar, -- 1926-2005.
- Goldschlag, Stella.
Corporate Bodies
- World ORT Union.
Subjects
- Postwar effects.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Mothers and sons.
- Escapes.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Brothers.
- Citizenship -- Germany.
- Forced labor.
- Child survivors.
- Sabotage.
- False papers.
- Hiding.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Germany.
- Berlin (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat