Hans-Peter M. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Hans-Peter M., who was born in Charlottenburg, Germany in 1919. He recalls his family's assimilated life; cordial relations with non-Jews until the 1930s; attending gymnasium; a non-Jewish teacher urging the Jewish students to emigrate (many did); his father's arrest during Kristallnacht and subsequent release; futile efforts to emigrate; forced labor in Berlin; marriage in September 1942; helping a friend smuggle a baby out of Berlin; his family volunteering for deportation in 1943, hoping to remain together; separation from his family upon arrival at Auschwitz (he never saw them again); transfer to Buna/Monowitz; slave labor for I. G. Farben; his privileged position as an engineer; a German giving him extra food; smuggling letters out via a Polish civilian worker; helping less-privileged prisoners; public executions; a death march to Gleiwitz in January 1945; train transport to Buchenwald; transfer to Theresienstadt; surgery in the hospital; liberation by Soviet troops; returning to Berlin; and learning he was the sole survivor of his family. Mr. M. discusses the importance of friendship groups, believing he would survive, and luck to his survival; the camp hierarchy; writing a book from notes taken in Theresienstadt; reluctance to share his experiences, even with his son; and very recently speaking about his experiences in schools.

2 videocassettes