Herman B. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Herman B., who was born in Beuthen, Germany in 1909. He recalls the family's move to Berlin in 1918; their great affluence; his father's significant art collection (sold in 1931); attending opera, concerts, and other cultural events; one sister's emigration in 1933; appointment as a judge due to his high standing in law school; dismissal due to the Nuremberg laws; moving to Bordeaux, then Paris; returning to Germany due to his father's illness; his emigration to the United States in 1936 (his other sister also subsequently left); his parents' refusal to leave; marriage in 1941; draft into the U.S. military in 1943; posting to Europe in 1944; establishing legal systems throughout Germany; learning from a sister his mother was alive in Theresienstadt; traveling there; learning his father had died in November 1944; taking his mother with him; placing her in convents wherever he was stationed; military discharge in Paris; and returning with his mother to the United States in 1945. Mr. B. discusses establishing a successful business; not discussing the war years with his mother; her death at age 90; and devoting his retirement to funding cancer research. He shows photographs, documents, letters, and memorabilia.
Extent and Medium
3 videocassettes
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
- B., Herman, -- 1909-
Corporate Bodies
- Theresienstadt (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Nuremberg laws.
- Postwar experiences.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Mothers and sons.
- Convents.
- Jews -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Germany.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Citizenship -- Germany.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
Places
- Bordeaux (Aquitaine, France)
- Germany.
- Beuthen (Germany)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Paris (France)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat