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Oral history interview with Mario Bensasson

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 2009.370 | RG Number: RG-50.030.0562

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    Oral history interview with Mario Bensasson

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Dr. Mario Bensasson, born on September 10, 1932 in Tunis, Tunisia, discusses his family who was part of the “grana,” the small number of Italian Jewish elite of Tunisia; how his father owned several large factories and was involved in exports; how his father had fought and was decorated for valor in the Italian Army during World War I; how his father was a friend of Angelo Donate, an Italian Jewish banker instrumental in saving Jews in Nice during World War II; having Jewish and non-Jewish friends in Tunisia; encountering antisemitism, but as part of a wealthy family, avoiding persecution and hunger during the war; how his family enjoyed a fine standard of living; his family’s move to the city of La Marsa when Tunis was bombed; his recollections of the day his father was called to report to the Germans at the synagogue; how his father’s citations and various medals he received during WW I impressed the German soldier on duty and he was allowed to return home; how Italian citizens, including Jews, were treated with favor during the German Occupation; how in contrast, after the Allies liberated Tunisia, his father was considered an “enemy” and interned as an Italian citizen; and his family’s departure in the late 1940s for France, where he wanted to study medicine but instead followed his father’s wishes to study law and political science.
    Interviewee
    Mario Bensasson
    Interviewer
    Peggy Frankston
    Date
    interview:  2009 April 23

    Physical Details

    Language
    French
    Extent
    1 digital file : MP3.

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    Restrictions on use. Per the interviewee's request, a segment near the end of his interview, not relevant to his Holocaust experiences, was excised from the user copy. The interviewee requests that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum restricts public access to the master copy of his interview until ten years after the date of the interview.

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Bensasson, Mario.

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    Peggy Frankston, on behalf of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History Branch, conducted the interview with Mario Bensasson on April 10, 2009 in Paris, France. This interview is part of a series of USHMM-produced interviews about Jewish life in countries in North Africa during the Holocaust.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:03:35
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn41512

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