Steven L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Steven L., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1920. He recalls attending secular school; increased prosperity when Hitler came to power; having to transfer to a Jewish school; attending technical school in Bodenbach, Czechoslovakia (now Podmokly); moving to London in 1939; visiting his girlfriend in Poland in August 1939; German invasion which prevented his return; bombardment of Warsaw; brief incarceration as a German spy; joining his girlfriend's family in Krako?w; traveling to Amsterdam to join his parents (they were there due to his father's influence in Germany and his ability to pay); German invasion in May 1940; illegally entering Brussels; arrest; transfer to Malines; a beating by an SS guard; forced labor in a clothing factory; being told by an SS guard not to board a deportation train; stampedes and shootings of prisoners; repairing watches for German soldiers; emptying trucks of prisoners' corpses; release in a German prisoner exchange; hiding prior to liberation; marriage in Brussels; and emigration to the United States in 1946. Mr. L. discusses his reluctance to share his experiences with his children and his lack of religious beliefs.
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. The testimony can only be used for educational purposes.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- L., Steven, -- 1920-
Corporate Bodies
- Malines (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar experiences.
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Forced labor.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Amsterdam (Netherlands)
- London (England)
- KrakoĚw (Poland)
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Bodenbach (Czechoslovakia)
- Berlin (Germany)
- Podmokly (Czech Republic)
- Germany.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat