Joseph W. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Joseph W., who was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1914. He recalls his parents' grocery business; their separation in 1931 (his father moved to Romania); celebrating religious holidays; attending business school; his belief that Nazi antisemitism would pass; Stuttgart's liberal atmosphere; exemption from wearing the yellow star due to his mother's Romanian citizenship; losing his job due to anti-Jewish laws; destruction of his mother's store during Kristallnacht; moving with his mother and sister into Jewish housing; working in a Jewish center processing emigration applications for Gestapo approval; obtaining a visa for the United States in 1940 with help from the center's director; emigration (he never saw his mother and sister again); living with an uncle; conscription into the United States army; training as an intelligence officer; participation in the Battle of the Bulge with the Ninth Armored Division; interrogating German prisoners; returning to Stuttgart; learning his mother and sister were deported in 1942 and his father died in a concentration camp in 1941; returning to the United States; marriage; and working in the fashion business. Mr. W. discusses a 1965 trip to Germany with his two children and he shows family photographs.
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
- W., Joseph, -- 1914-
Corporate Bodies
- United States. -- Army. -- Armored Division, 9th.
- Germany. -- Geheime Staatspolizei.
Subjects
- Postwar experiences.
- Crystal Night, 1938.
- Antisemitism -- Prewar.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Video tapes.
- Men.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Jewish.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, American.
- Refugees, Jewish.
- Jews -- Migrations.
- Kristallnacht, 1938.
Places
- Germany.
- Stuttgart (Germany)
- United States -- Armed Forces -- Europe.
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat