Gerd E. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Gerd E., who was born in Berlin in 1922. He describes his wealthy and prominent family; attending public school, then the elite French gymnasium; hardships resulting from the Nuremberg laws. including his expulsion from school in 1938; attending a Jewish school; synagogue burnings and his father's arrest on Kristallnacht; his release six weeks later, a weak and broken man; completing his qualifying exam (arbitur) in 1940; an apprenticeship leading to a factory job; hiding money and valuables with non-Jewish friends; his father's death; four weeks of forced labor in Wuhlheide in the summer of 1941; realizing death was inevitable in such a camp; warning his friends against transports; preparing to hide; and his mother's and sister's deportation in 1942 (he never saw them again). He describes life "underground"; acquiring false papers; associating with members of the Baum group; a confrontation with Stella Goldschlag, a known Jewish informer; escaping to Switzerland with assistance from a German woman; studying in Geneva; and emigrating to the United States in 1949. Mr. E. details many experiences in hiding and emphasizes the importance of luck and nerve to his survival.

3 videocassettes