- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Lajzer F. who was born in Łódź, Poland in 1923, the oldest of four children. He recalls moving to Charleroi when he was six; belonging to Zionist youth groups; moving to Brussels in 1936; German invasion; his father registering them as Jews as demanded; forced labor with his brothers in France for Organisation Todt; hospitalization in Boulogne; learning his parents and sister had been deported (they did not return); escape (his brothers followed); hiding together; joining a left-wing Resistance group; killing a traitor who denounced Jews; arrest in April 1944; torture for days; realizing his entire unit had been betrayed; solitary confinement in Breendonk; transfer to Buchenwald; strong solidarity among the Belgians; exchanging a corpse for a man wanted by the SS, thus saving the man's life; slave labor in an aircraft factory; a death march to Leipzig; boat transfer to Czechoslovakia; abandonment by the guards; prisoners beating one cruel guard who had been captured by the Allies; walking to Plzeň; repatriation; assistance from the Red Cross; reunion with his brothers in Brussels; marriage to a Jew who had been in hiding; living with her rescuers; and sharing his story with his daughter. Mr. F. discusses his nightmares; prisoners psychologically never leaving the camps; and the limits of language to describe their horrors.
- Author/Creator
- F., Lajzer, 1923-
- Published
- Brussels, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 1995
- Interview Date
- May 22, 1995.
- Locale
- Belgium
Poland
Łódź (Poland)
Charleroi (Belgium)
Brussels (Belgium)
Boulogne-sur-Mer (France)
Leipzig (Germany)
Plzeň (Czech Republic)
- Cite As
- Lajzer F. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4020). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Thanassekos, Yannis, interviewer.
Rosenfeldt, Michel, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
Associated material : Henry K. Holocaust testimony [friend] (HVT-3000), Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
