Lajzer F. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Lajzer F. who was born in Łódź, Poland in 1923, the oldest of four children. He recalls moving to Charleroi when he was six; belonging to Zionist youth groups; moving to Brussels in 1936; German invasion; his father registering them as Jews as demanded; forced labor with his brothers in France for Organisation Todt; hospitalization in Boulogne; learning his parents and sister had been deported (they did not return); escape (his brothers followed); hiding together; joining a left-wing Resistance group; killing a traitor who denounced Jews; arrest in April 1944; torture for days; realizing his entire unit had been betrayed; solitary confinement in Breendonk; transfer to Buchenwald; strong solidarity among the Belgians; exchanging a corpse for a man wanted by the SS, thus saving the man's life; slave labor in an aircraft factory; a death march to Leipzig; boat transfer to Czechoslovakia; abandonment by the guards; prisoners beating one cruel guard who had been captured by the Allies; walking to Plzeň; repatriation; assistance from the Red Cross; reunion with his brothers in Brussels; marriage to a Jew who had been in hiding; living with her rescuers; and sharing his story with his daughter. Mr. F. discusses his nightmares; prisoners psychologically never leaving the camps; and the limits of language to describe their horrors.

6 videocassettes