Oral history interview with René Pernot

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 2016.198.43 | RG Number: RG-50.498.0021

Overview

Interview Summary: René Pernot, born on January 22, 1928 in Cormatin, France, describes his family and early life; his father, who was a mechanic; his early childhood through primary school; first noticing that his father was organizing the beginnings of a Resistance group, with meetings at their house along with three to four men, including Monsieur Pagnelle [PH] and Monsieur Delorieux [PH] (the butcher); the villagers knowing who supported the Germans and who did not; the first parachute drops from England in the outskirts of Cormatin in September 1943; his father taking him to the landing site, where two Frenchmen in training in England arrived; other drops, and accompanying his father to collect flyers, information, and other documents; the important Resistance role of the curé Duvernois [PH] of La Chapelle-sous-Brancion; Mlle. Vincent, a teacher in La Chapelle-sous-Brancion; his father going into hiding when the Germans began closing in on his Resistance activities; his father’s return to their home in the evenings; the day he was arrested in his father’s house in November 1943 at the age of 15 when the Mayor and a German soldier arrived; being sent to Montluc for three months; being sent to Compiègne, a transit camp; being sent to Buchenwald, where he stayed until April 1945; the deportation to Buchenwald by cattle car; arriving at the camp at night and getting tattooed; his work at an arms factory in Weimar; corresponding via censored letters with his mother and learning that his father was okay, along with his friend Jean Blavier [PH], and Roger [surname unclear]; the SS transferring the political prisoners to Dachau when the Soviets entered Poland; being too weak to return to Paris when in April 1945 the Americans liberated Dachau; being hospitalized in Switzerland to regain his strength; attributing his survival to his Boy Scout training and laments the lack of interest in scouting in 2018; and his belief that he was arrested because the Germans thought his father would then come forward and declare himself a Resistance leader, but he never did.
Interviewee: René Pernot
Interviewer: Borbála Kriza
Date: interview: 2018 May 09
Geography: creation: Cormatin (France)
Credit Line: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of the Jeff and Toby Herr Foundation

Physical Details

Language: French
Extent: 3 digital files : MP4.

Rights & Restrictions

Conditions on Access: There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
Conditions on Use: No restrictions on use

Keywords & Subjects

Topical Term: Concentration camp inmates--Correspondence. Concentration camp inmates. Concentration camp tattoos. Forced labor. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--France. Political prisoners--France. Scouts (Youth organization members)--France. World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps. World War, 1939-1945--Deportations from France. World War, 1939-1945--Participation, Juvenile. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, French. World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--France. World War, 1939-1945--Underground movements--Personal narratives. Men--Personal narratives. Prisons
Geographic Name: Cormatin (France) France--History--German occupation, 1940-1945. Germany. La Chapelle-sous-Brancion (France) Switzerland.
Personal Name: Pernot, René.
Corporate Name: Buchenwald (Concentration camp) Compiègne (Concentration camp) Dachau (Concentration camp) Montluc (Prison : France)

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Legal Status: Permanent Collection
Provenance: This is a witness interview of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Perpetrators, Collaborators, and Witnesses: The Jeff and Toby Herr Testimony Initiative, a multi-year project to record the testimonies of non-Jewish witnesses to the Holocaust.
Funding Note: The cataloging of this oral history interview has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Special Collection: The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive

Record last modified:: 2023-11-16 08:57:13
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn612789

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