Benjamin H. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Benjamin H., who was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1918. He describes his family's move to Belgium; his father's successful business in Brussels; attending school in Anderlecht; German invasion; his family's arrest attempting to enter Switzerland; arrest with his wife in the Pyrenees fleeing to Spain; internment in Gurs; his release through Abbe? Alexandre Glasberg; obtaining false papers; joining FTPF (the French communist underground movement); his second arrest; torture during interrogations in Limoges; transfer to Compie?gne, then Buchenwald; and slave labor in Gustloffwerke I. Mr. H. recalls his decision to rely on himself, particularly as opposed to religion; communists' efforts to help each other; learning of his son's birth; transfer to Hadmersleben, then another camp; evacuation to Lovosice; liberation by Soviet troops; traveling to Sokolov via Karlovy Vary; repatriation to Brussels via Wu?rrzburg; a joyful reunion with his friends, wife, and son; and learning of the extermination camps. He notes he remained under his false name as a non-Jew in the camps; the importance of friendship to his survival; and the impossibility of resisting in the camps.
Extent and Medium
4 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
- H., Benjamin, -- 1918-
- Glasberg, Alexandre, -- 1902-1981
Corporate Bodies
- Gurs (Concentration camp)
- Francs-tireurs et partisans français.
- Compiègne (Concentration camp)
- Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
- Men.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- France.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Jewish.
- Video tapes.
- Holocaust survivors.
- Aid by non-Jews.
- Mutual aid.
- False papers.
- Resistance.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Forced labor.
- Friendship.
- Postwar experiences.
Places
- Warsaw (Poland)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Anderlecht (Belgium)
- Limoges (France)
- Poland.
- Lovosice (Czech Republic)
- Würzburg (Germany)
- Sokolov (Slovakia)
- Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic)
- Gustloffwerke I (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Hadmersleben (Germany : Concentration camp)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat