- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Michel L., who was born in Skierniewice, Poland in 1922, one of five children. He recounts his family's emigration to Metz in 1923; their return to Poland in 1936; moving back to France; attending a Jewish school; living among his extended family; his father's death; leaving school for a tailor's apprenticeship; German invasion; forced relocation with his extended family to Angoulême; denunciation and arrest in 1942; incarceration near Poitiers; transfer to Drancy; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau in August; slave labor digging canals and moving corpses; volunteering to work as a tailor; improved conditions; reunion with Serge, a childhood friend; their transfer to Warsaw; assisting hidden ghetto survivors; public executions; assignment to the laundry; he and his friends exchanging goods for food with Polish civilians; a death march in August 1944 to Łowicz and Kutno, then train transport to Dachau; transfer to a sub-camp; train evacuation in April 1945; escaping with Serge during Allied bombings; receiving food from army deserters; liberation by United States troops; repatriation via Hotel Lutetia in Paris; traveling to Angoulême, then Metz; learning his mother and siblings had been deported and killed; living in Paris; marriage to a survivor; his son's birth; learning twenty years later his youngest brother had survived in hiding; and their reunion. Mr. L. discusses not sharing his experiences with his son; nightmares and his loss of faith; and recently visiting Auschwitz with Serge. He shows photographs.
- Author/Creator
- L., Michel, 1922-
- Published
- Paris, France : Témoignages pour mémoire, 1995
- Interview Date
- March 9, 1995.
- Locale
- Poland
Skierniewice (Poland)
Metz (France)
Nancy (France)
Angoulême (France)
Poitiers (France)
Łowicz (Poland)
Kutno (Poland)
Paris (France)
- Cite As
- Michel L. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3220). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Zarka, Josette, interviewer.
Borlant, Henri, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
