Jean L. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Jean L., who was born in Poland in 1924. He recalls his family's emigration to Paris in 1936 due to antisemitism; their strong socialist commitment; German invasion; joining the Resistance; brief incarceration in Drancy; participating in armed resistance; living under false papers; arrest on April 22, 1943; incarceration in Fresnes; transfer to Struthof on July 10, 1943; deportation to Birkenau in January 1944; a privileged assignment to Canada Kommando with help from a former friend; surviving a selection because of his status as a political prisoner; organized resistance, including a planned revolt with the Sonderkommando; intergroup relations; demolition of the crematoria in late 1944; the death march to Gross-Rosen; transfer in cattle cars to a camp near the Czech border; disappearance of German guards; liberation by United States troops; recovering with assistance from the Red Cross; and reunion with his sister and parents in Paris. Mr. L. discusses learning about the gassing of prisoners in Struthof for experimental purposes and his personal trust in every survivor's story because the experience was so illogical and absurd.

2 videocassettes