David L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of David L., who was born in ?o?dz?, Poland in 1924. He recalls his family's move to Cologne, then Brussels in 1928; actively participating in socialist groups; German invasion; resistance activities from 1941 onward; killing a soldier in retaliation for his girlfriend's torture and execution; deportation of his father and brother in 1942; hiding in Brabant; his mother and youngest brother hiding; his arrest as a resistant; imprisonment in St. Gilles, then Malines; and deportation to Auschwitz. Mr. L. recounts finding his father; participating in the inmate underground; commanding a work brigade; arranging extra rations for his brigade; being beaten for not betraying another inmate; the death march to Mauthausen (his father remained behind); receiving food from a Czech woman; transport to Ebensee; participating in the inmate underground; organized refusal to enter the tunnels as the Allies approached; disappearance of most guards; prisoners killing guards and prisoner collaborators; arrival of United States troops; returning to Brussels; reunion with his parents; and learning of his brother's death. Mr. L. notes details of organized resistance in the camps and the importance of political activism and solidarity to survival.
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
- L., David, -- 1924-
Corporate Bodies
- Mauthausen (Concentration camp)
- Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
- Ebensee (Concentration camp)
- Malines (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Concentration camps -- Underground movements.
- Postwar experiences.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Hiding.
- Mutual aid.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German.
- Death marches.
- Resistance.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Forced labor.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Belgium.
- Fathers and sons.
- Revenge.
- Socialism -- Belgium.
Places
- France.
- Brabant (Belgium)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Cologne (Germany)
- Poland.
- Łódź (Poland)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat