Yehuda M. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Yehuda M., who was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1914, the only child of an eighth generation Dutch-Jewish family. He recalls moving to Hilversum at age fourteen; attending public school; his bar mitzvah; participating in Hashomer Hatzair, then Betar; working in steel production; enlisting in the Dutch military; marriage in Rotterdam in 1940; capitulation to Germany; anti-Jewish restrictions; obtaining false papers; living as non-Jews; working with the underground to hide other Jews; his mother's death in Eindhoven; her Christian funeral; being shot when fleeing from arrest in Utrecht; hospitalization, then imprisonment; transfer to Vught in October 1943. then to Moerdijk; receiving packages from the Red Cross and mail from his wife; translating for French prisoners; transfer to ś-Hertogenbosch; forming a close group with a few other prisoners; futile escape plans by the camp underground; transfer to Westerbork, Auschwitz/Birkenau, then Monowitz; working in a privileged position as an accountant; receiving special rations; sharing the regular food with others; his group's separation from other prisoners; public hangings; brief hospitaltization; a death march to Gleiwitz; train transport to Dora; separation from his group when he was sent to Osterode; slave labor digging tunnels; transfer back to Dora; liberation by United States troops; living in a nearby villa; working for the U.S. military; assistance from UNRRA; returning home; recovering from tuberculosis; the birth of a son; encountering antisemitism in the Dutch military; his wife and son emigrating to Palestine in July 1947; his emigration in November, after military discharge; and twice testifying at Dutch war crime trials. Mr. M. discusses how worthless life became in the camps; his strong will to live; treatment for psychological issues and nightmares resulting from his experiences; not sharing his story with his children; and attributing his survival to luck. He shows his wife's letter to him when he was in camp.

16 videocassettes