Herman L. Holocaust testimony
Abstract
Videotape testimony of Herman L., a non-Jew, who was born in Tienen, Belgium in 1919. He recalls his father's commitment to Marxism; his parents' divorce when he was thirteen; attending schools and universities in Brussels, Charleroi, Ghent, and Cologne; observing persecution of Jews in Germany; his mother assisting Jewish refugees; German invasion; biking to France; encountering his father; going with him to Limoges, Dijon, and Paris; returning to university in Ghent; arrest in 1943 for communist and union activities; imprisonment in Breendonk; meaningless forced labor; being forced to participate in the group beating to death of a Jewish prisoner who was caught escaping; transfer to prison in Huy; improved conditions; punishment when two men he supervised escaped; release; returning to Brussels; marriage; and his postwar career as a prominent librarian.
Extent and Medium
2 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., Herman, -- 1919-
Corporate Bodies
- Breendonk (Concentration camp)
Subjects
- Concentration camp inmates.
- Mutual aid.
- Forced labor.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Atrocities.
- Postwar experiences.
- Men.
- Video tapes.
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, Belgian.
- Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Personal narratives.
Places
- Belgium.
- Tienen (Belgium)
- Ghent (Belgium)
- Cologne (Germany)
- Charleroi (Belgium)
- Brussels (Belgium)
- Paris (France)
- Limoges (France)
- Dijon (France)
Genre
- Oral histories. -- aat