Gerald L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Gerald L., who was born in Gumbinnen, Germany (now Gusev, Russia) in 1929. He recalls his parents' divorce; living with his father and stepmother; moving to Ko?nigsberg (Kaliningrad), then Danzig (Gdan?sk, Poland); emigrating with his father, stepmother, and other family members to Shanghai in July 1939; his father's death six months later; living with his stepmother among the Jewish refugees in a Chinese working-class district; financial support from his uncle's dental practice; attending a Jewish school (the center of his social life); Japanese occupation; confinement to Hongkew; the self-contained yet diverse Jewish community; viewing Chinese life at a distance in spite of close physical proximity; religious services conducted in German; his bar mitzvah; working in a silk factory; joining his mother in Colombia after the war; living in a German Jewish community; moving to the United States seven years later; and marriage. Mr. L. discusses visiting Shanghai with his son and their plans to visit Poland and Germany. He shows photographs and documents.
Extent and Medium
2 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
- L., Gerald, -- 1929-
Subjects
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Jews -- China -- Shanghai.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Jewish ghettos.
- Bar mitzvah.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Child survivors.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Kaliningrad (Kaliningradskai︠a︡ oblastʹ, Russia)
- Germany.
- Shanghai (China)
- Gdańsk (Poland)
- Colombia.
- Hongkou Qu (Shanghai, China)
- Königsberg (Germany)
- Gumbinnen (Germany)
- Gusev (Kaliningradskai︠a︡ oblastʹ, Russia)
- Hongkew ghetto (Shanghai, China)
- Danzig (Germany)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat