René B. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of René B., a Roman Catholic, who was born in Belgium in 1916. He recalls apprenticeship as a butcher; military service for a year beginning in 1936 in Tournai; marriage; military recall in 1939; capture by the Germans in Louvain; transport to a POW camp in Cologne; forced labor doing farm work; transfer to several POW camps; separation of Flemish and Walloon Belgian prisoners; removal of Jewish prisoners (they did not know their fate); receiving packages from the United States, England, and the Red Cross; liberation by Soviet troops; returning home via Odesa, Gdańsk, and Marseille; a warm welcome; divorce and remarriage; excommunication due to his divorce; joining the socialist party; and working as a rural constable. Mr. B. notes speaking freely about his experiences; learning of concentration camps after the war; continued hostility toward Germans; and his strong Belgian patriotism.

3 videocassettes