Bruno G. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Bruno G., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1925. He recalls an assimilated life in the Friedrichshain district; antisemitic harassment after January 1933; feeling secure because his father was a decorated war veteran; his parents' divorce; living with his mother; expulsion from school in 1935; attending a Jewish school; Kristallnacht; his brother's emigration to England in April 1939; outbreak of war; apprenticeship as a blacksmith; forced labor for Siemens-Schuckertwerke; sabotaging his work; his grandfather's deportation to Theresienstadt; his mother's and aunt's deportation in October 1942 (he never saw them again); hiding in several places with other Jews, including his future wife, with assistance from non-Jews beginning in January 1943; posing as a Czech worker using a forged passport; stealing food and ration cards; Allied bombings; liberation by Soviet troops; marriage; reunion with his brother (a British soldier) and his father (an Auschwitz survivor); living in a displaced persons camp near Bremerhaven; emigration to the United States in May 1946; assistance from the Joint; and the births of two sons. He discusses having his rescuers recognized by Yad Vashem and the importance of luck to his survival. He shows photographs 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
- G., Bruno, -- 1925-
Corporate Bodies
- Siemens-Schuckertwerke.
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Subjects
- Mutual aid.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- False papers.
- Postwar experiences.
- Child survivors.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Hiding.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Sabotage.
- Forced labor.
- Refugee camps.
- Husband and wife.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
Places
- Bremerhaven (Germany)
- Germany.
- Berlin (Germany)
- Friedrichshain (Berlin, Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat