Charles R. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Charles R., who was born in Vienna, Austria in 1927. He recalls his parents' divorce; the Anschluss; expulsion from school; observing violence on Kristallnacht; he and his mother smuggling themselves to France, Switzerland, and Luxembourg, but being apprehended and returned; illegally traveling to Strasbourg; arrest; his mother's brief imprisonment; moving to Paris; German invasion; living in a children's home in central France; transfer to Limoges; hiding during police searches; receiving correspondence requesting him to join his mother; going to Rivesaltes; learning the request was from his father; his father's deportation (he never saw him again); escaping with help from a former teacher; staying in Perpignan; warning parents not to bring their children to camps; obtaining false papers; staying in a youth home near Montpellier as a non-Jew; joining his mother in Saint-Martin-Ve?subie; smuggling themselves to Italy; hiding in mountains in Sant'Anna di Valdieri; traveling to Rome; hiding in a pension; liberation; working for the British Army and the Joint; living in a refugee camp; and emigration to the United States in 1949. Mr. R. discusses reluctance to share his experiences with his daughter until recently and serving in the Korean War. 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
- R., Charles, -- 1927-
Corporate Bodies
- American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
- Rivesaltes (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Hiding.
- Mutual aid.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- False papers.
- Postwar experiences.
- Survivor-child relations.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- Orphanages -- France.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Jews -- Rescue.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Fathers and sons.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Child survivors.
- Escapes.
Places
- Sant'Anna di Valdieri (Italy)
- Perpignan (France)
- Austria -- History -- Anschluss, 1938.
- Rome (Italy)
- Vienna (Austria)
- Luxembourg.
- Strasbourg (France)
- Austria.
- Switzerland.
- Montpellier (France)
- Saint-Martin-VeĚsubie (France)
- Paris (France)
- Limoges (France)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat