Leo B. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1217) interviewed by Amy Tanich Shulkin and Gail Sherman

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.