Overview
- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Adolf J., who was born in 1924 in Germany. He describes his family's move to Belgium; poverty in Antwerp until the late 1920s, then affluence; involvement in leftist organizations; antisemitic incidents in school; his family's fleeing to Dunkerque to escape the German invasion; their return to Belgium; joining the Resistance; hiding in Charleroi; his father's arrest; joining the Resistance in Brussels; moving to Tournai; arrest as a Resistant (he had false papers) in April 1944; and confessing to be Jewish, thinking it would help him. Mr. J. recalls transfer to Malines; forced labor in Schoten; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau; receiving food and medical aid from Belgian friends and other Belgians who did not know him; receiving extra food from Hungarian guards; contact with his sister; a rabbi who advised and helped prisoners, some of whom fasted on Yom Kippur; the death march to Gross-Rosen in January 1945; transfer to Dachau and Waldlager; liberation by United States troops; repatriation; and reunion with his sister. He discusses at length relations between prisoner groups and his state of mind in the camps.
- Published
- Brussels, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 1992
- Interview Date
- May 6, 1992.
- Locale
- Belgium
Germany
Antwerp (Belgium)
Dunkerque (France)
Charleroi (Belgium)
Tournai (Belgium)
Schoten (Belgium)
Brussels (Belgium) - Cite As
- Adolf J. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2979). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
Physical Details
- Language
- French
- Copies
- 2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
- Physical Description
- 1 videorecording (1 hr., 44 min.) : col
Keywords & Subjects
- Subjects (Local Yale)
- Antisemitism Prewar.
Resistance.
Aid by non-Jews.
Hiding.
False papers.
Mutual aid.
Postwar experiences. - Subjects
- Holocaust survivors. Video tapes. Men. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Belgium. Concentration camps--Psychological aspects. Death marches. Brothers and sisters. Concentration camps--Sociological aspects. Concentration camp inmates--Religious life. Forced labor. Germany. Antwerp (Belgium) Dunkerque (France) Charleroi (Belgium) Tournai (Belgium) Schoten (Belgium) Brussels (Belgium) Oral histories (document genres) J., Adolf,--1924- Waldlager V (Concentration camp) Comité de défense des juifs. Birkenau (Concentration camp) Auschwitz (Concentration camp) Gross-Rosen (Concentration camp) Dachau (Concentration camp) Malines (Concentration camp)
Administrative Notes
- Holder of Originals
-
Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
- Special Collection
-
Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
- Link to Yale University Library Catalog:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4289931
- Record last modified:
- 2018-06-04 13:28:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4289931
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