Albert B. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Albert B., who was born in Paris, France, in 1932. He recounts living in a Jewish neighborhood; cordial relations with non-Jews; the outbreak of war; his father's enlistment and internment as a prisoner of war; anti-Jewish measures; release with his mother and brother from a round-up in 1942 due to his father's military status; their arrest with other veterans' families in February 1944 (presumably as hostages for German POWs); deportation to Drancy for three months, then to Bergen-Belsen; transfer to a men's barrack (he could visit his mother); forced labor in a children's brigade; his mother's debilitated state (she was used for medical experiments); liberation from a train; recovering from typhus; their return to Paris; reunion with his father; and the kindness of his teachers when he returned to school. Mr. B. discusses at length his state of mind and intergroup relations in the camps; his inability to convey these experiences in words; postwar effects, including fear of the night, early maturation, and indifference; reluctance to discuss his experiences until his daughter's birth; his Jewish identity; and France's unwillingness to confront its role in the Holocaust.

2 videocassettes