Le?on K. Holocaust testimony

Identifier
HVT 2651
Language of Description
English
Level of Description
Collection
Source
EHRI Partner

Abstract

Videotape testimony of Le?on K., who was born in Lotte, Germany in 1911. He recalls moving to Paris in 1933; difficulties with his citizenship status starting in 1934; enlisting in the French military in 1941; German invasion; returning to Paris after the armistice; deportation to Pithiviers in May; playing chess and sharing food packages among his group; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau in June 1942; slave labor doing various jobs; public hangings; assistance from a prisoner-doctor when he was ill; observing corpses everywhere; a death march, then train transport to Ebensee; transfer to Mauthausen; liberation in May 1945; hospitalization in France; marriage, his daughter's birth; and becoming blind. Mr. K. discusses not understanding how he survived the severe conditions he experienced; the total randomness of survival; not trusting anyone due to his experiences; and not sharing them with anyone, including his daughter, when she asked.

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

  • K., Léon, -- 1911-

Corporate Bodies

  • Pithiviers (Concentration camp)
  • Ebensee (Concentration camp)
  • Mauthausen (Concentration camp)
  • Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
  • Birkenau (Concentration camp)

Subjects

  • Men.
  • Video tapes.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
  • Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
  • Holocaust survivors.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
  • Forced labor.
  • Mutual aid.
  • Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
  • Jewish refugees.
  • Jews -- Migrations.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, French.
  • World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Jewish.
  • Survivor-child relations.
  • Postwar effects.
  • Postwar experiences.

Places

  • Paris (France)
  • Germany.
  • Lotte (Germany)

Genre

  • Oral histories. -- aat
This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.