Oscar A. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Oscar A., who was born in Bulgaria in 1911. He recalls his family's French identity; attending school in Sofia; studying in Paris; marriage to a Jewish convert in 1938; mobilization in 1939; his parents' and sister's emigration to Paris; capture in a battle in 1940; escaping to Paris with help from a German rail official; moving to Nice; his daughter's birth; arrest with five family members in 1943; his wife's release as a non-Jew (their daughter was not arrested); deportation to Auschwitz via Drancy; selection for forced labor in Buna/Monowitz (I.G. Farben) with his brother and nephew (he never saw his father and sister again); cold and starvation; helping his brother; his nephew's death; working for non-Jewish prisoners for food; receiving food from an English POW; the January 1945 death march with his brother to Gleiwitz and Dora; transfer to Osterode and Guenzerode; hiding during evacuation; discovery by an officer; being returned to Dora; liberation by United States troops; their repatriation to Paris; and reunion with his wife, daughter, and mother. Mr. A. discusses the distinctions that the post-war French government made between Jewish and Resistance deportees; cessation of nightmares after writing his memoirs (which his children read) and through psychoanalysis; his loss of faith; and the importance of not judging others.

2 videocassettes