- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Werner R. who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1927. He recalls his father losing his job in 1933; moving to Zagreb; attending public school; their Zionist, rather than Jewish, identity; his father's death in 1940; German invasion in 1941; being baptized with his sister; living separately from his mother and sister because it seemed safer; his sister's escape to Italy; working with the partisans; and arrest by the Gestapo in 1943. Mr. R. tells of jails in Graz and Vienna; transport to Terezín; cabarets and opera; German efforts to preserve Jewish books; and transport to Birkenau in 1944. He details camp life including selections, executions, sharing food, slave labor, and gassings in both Birkenau and Auschwitz. Mr. R. describes the January 1945 death march terminating at Mauthausen where Yugoslavs ran the hospital; their help, including amputation of his toes to prevent gangrene; rampant disease and cannibalism; May liberation by United States troops; returning to Zagreb; contact with his sister and an uncle; learning of his mother's death; emigration to England in 1947; and his marriage and emigration to the United States in 1955. Throughout his detailed testimony Mr. R. reflects on his attitudes and state of mind.
- Author/Creator
- R., Werner, 1927-
- Published
- New York, N.Y. : Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale, 1987
- Interview Date
- November 7, 1987.
- Locale
- Yugoslavia
Germany
Berlin (Germany)
Zagreb (Croatia)
Graz (Austria)
Vienna (Austria)
- Cite As
- Werner R. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-948). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Morton, Peggy, interviewer.
Sicular, Lilian, interviewer.
- Notes
-
Associated material: Renate R. Holocaust testimony [sister] (HVT-896), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
