Adolphe L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Adolphe L., who was born in Fumal, Belgium in 1919. He recalls that his family were very religious Christians and Belgian patriots; attending school in Huy; military enlistment in 1938; German invasion; fleeing with his battalion to France; sailing from La Turballe to England; enlisting in the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to continue to fight against Germany; months of physical and intelligence training; parachuting into Belgium in fall 1941; reunion with his fiancée and family; living in Liège; condemning the treatment of Jews based on his Christian beliefs; organizing a sabotage group; retrieving supplies; hiding when one of his men was captured; killing a German policeman; capture in April 1942; imprisonment and being handcuffed night and day, in the Citadelle de Liège for four months; interrogations; transfer to St. Leonhard, then fifteen days later to Bochum; designation as a "Nacht und Nebel" political prisoner; transfer eight months later to Esterwegen; listening to a clandestine radio; transfer to Ichtershausen; slave labor in a munitions factory; evacuation to Pössneck; escape; liberation by United States troops; traveling to Weimar; repatriation to Brussels; and debriefing by the SOE. Mr. L. discusses the importance of faith to his survival; his efforts to raise morale in the camps; intergroup relations; not sharing his experiences with his children, fearing he would transmit his hatred; giving up his hatred after some years; sharing his experiences with his grandchildren; and pervasive painful memories.
Extent and Medium
3 videocassettes
Conditions Governing Access
This testimony is open with permission.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright has been transferred to the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. Use of this testimony requires permission of the Fortunoff Video Archive.
Rules and Conventions
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Process Info
compiled by Staff of the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
People
- L., Adolphe, -- 1919-
Corporate Bodies
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
- Great Britain. -- Special Operations Executive.
- Esterwegen (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Survivor-child relations.
- Postwar effects.
- Postwar experiences.
- Resistance.
- Escapes.
- Forced labor.
- Concentration camps -- Sociological aspects.
- Concentration camps -- Psychological aspects.
- Faith.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, English.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Belgium.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Participation, Belgian.
- Concentration camp inmates.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Belgian.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
Places
- Belgium.
- Bochum (Germany : Concentration camp)
- Weimar (Germany : Stadtkreis)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Liège (Belgium)
- Pössneck (Germany)
- La Turballe (France)
- London (England)
- Fumal (Belgium)
- Huy (Belgium)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat