Henri S. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Henri S., who was born in Aurich, Germany, the younger of two children. He recalls his family's orthodoxy; moving to Norden around 1935; attending a Jewish school; anti-Jewish restrictions; his father's deportation to Buchenwald and his grandfather's arrest on Kristallnacht; their release; smuggling themselves to Brussels via Aachen; German invasion in 1940; hiding with non-Jews during round-ups; his parents contacting the underground to hide him and his sister; placement with a farmer in Grendel; hearing from his sister through a priest (he did not know where she was); each of his parents visiting once; learning they had been deported (he never saw them again); working on the farm; being moved when exposure was threatened; a farmer in Post hiding him, other Jews, and escaped Soviet POWs; bombings during the Battle of the Bulge; arrival of United States troops; hiding when the Germans returned; liberation; living with a non-Jewish family in Arlon; contact with his sister; moving to Brussels; placement in orphanages; a group bar mitzvah with other boys whose bar mitzvahs had not occurred because they were in hiding; his sister's marriage; emigrating in 1947 to join an uncle in the United States; military service; becoming a watchmaker; marriage; and the births of two daughters. Mr. S. discusses the Belgian effort to help Jews, particularly children, and attending a Hidden Children conference.
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
- S., Henri, -- 1929-
Corporate Bodies
- Hidden Child Foundation/ADL.
Subjects
- Hiding.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Postwar experiences.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Jewish children in the Holocaust.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Children.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Belgium.
- Orphanages -- Belgium.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Jewish refugees.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Bar mitzvah.
- Child survivors.
Places
- Aurich (Lower Saxony, Germany)
- Germany.
- Aachen (Germany)
- Norden (Lower Saxony, Germany)
- Grendel (Belgium)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Arlon (Belgium)
- Post (Belgium)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat