- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Leo B., who was born in Vienna, Austria in 1921. He recalls his father's death when he was nine; Viennese cultural life; smuggling himself to Belgium after the Anschluss at his mother's urging (due to the perception that it was more dangerous for males); attending trade school; German invasion; and deportation to southern France in an exchange for Belgians. Mr. B. relates conditions in Saint Cyprien concentration camp; a futile attempt to enter Switzerland; incarceration in Drancy; boarding a transport to Auschwitz on November 6, 1942; escape from the train while still in France; being sheltered by a priest; obtaining false papers; arrest; incarceration in Septfonds; escape in November 1943; joining the French underground and creating false I.D. cards; and learning after the war that his mother and sisters perished in Auschwitz. Mr. B. discusses bigotry today and the importance of survivors teaching the lessons of history to counter this.
- Author/Creator
- B., Leo, 1921-
- Published
- Baltimore, Md. : Baltimore Jewish Council, 1989
- Interview Date
- February 5, 1989.
- Locale
- France
Austria
Vienna (Austria)
Belgium
Switzerland
- Cite As
- Leo B. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1217). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Shulkin, Amy Tanich, interviewer.
Sherman, Gail, interviewer.
- Notes
-
Related publication: Leap into darkness : seven years on the run in wartime Europe / Leo Bretholz and Michael Olesker. 1st ed. -- Baltimore, Md. : Woodholme House Publishers, c1999.
