Adolf M. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Adolf M., who was born in Berlin in 1921 to a Jewish father and a Christian mother who had converted to Judaism. He recalls cordial relations with both his parents' families; minimal religious observances at home; his bar mitzvah; anti-Jewish harassment of his father's business; his father's reluctance to emigrate (he had served in World War I) despite his mother's desire to leave; apprenticeship to a textile merchant in 1935; his father's death in 1936; easing of restrictions during the Olympics; his sister's emigration to England in 1939; military draft, then rejection as a Jew in 1940; forced labor; his sympathetic supervisor; arrest in 1943; being freed due to a demonstration of non-Jewish women for their Jewish spouses and children, including his mother; deportation of his father's family (only one returned) and one uncle's suicide; hiding with his girlfriend's family (they were Communists) from late 1944 until liberation in April 1945; and locating his sister with Red Cross assistance. Mr. M. discusses his mother's crucial role in his survival; beatings during forced labor; working with POWs; and not sharing his experiences, except with his children. He shows photographs, documents, and objects.

2 videocassettes