Israel and Shalom L. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Israel L., who was born in Subotica, Yugoslavia in 1936 and his brother Shalom L., who was born in 1940. They recall their extended family; their orthodoxy; their father's compulsory service in a Hungarian slave labor battalion; moving to Budapest with their mother and sisters; living with their maternal grandparents; forced relocation; being placed with the Kasztner group due to their grandfather's and cousin's influence; deportation from the Dohany synagogue to Bergen-Belsen via Linz; remaining with the group which received better treatment; transfer to Saint Gall, Switzerland, then Caux; assistance from the Joint and the Red Cross; being taken with their sister to children's homes in Sils im Engadin and near Lake Geneva; their mother's visits; learning their father was alive; and emigration to Belgium, then Israel, in 1948 with their parents, sisters, and grandparents. Israel L. tells of his mother marking his eighth birthday in Bergen-Belsen; military service; his four children (one died in the military); and sharing his story with his children. Shalom L. tells of emigration to Canada in 1968 and depression after media presentations of the Holocaust. They discuss the importance of their mother and grandparents to their survival; the deaths of many relatives in the Holocaust; difficulty believing what they lived through; and the inability of dramatic films to represent the reality of the Holocaust.

2 videocassettes