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John W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2269) interviewed by Samuel Kenner,

Oral History | Digitized | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2269

Overview

Summary: Videotape testimony of John W., who was born in Mönchengladbach, Germany in 1920. He describes his assimilated family background; his bar mitzvah in 1933; disbelief anything would happen to them because his father was a World War I veteran; changes beginning in 1934; the Nuremberg laws; his brother's emigration to England in 1937; his parents' arranging to ship their possessions to the United States; obtaining passports; his father's arrest on Kristallnacht and incarceration in Dachau; and emigrating to the United States after his father's release in June 1940. Mr. W. discusses how appealing it seemed to belong to the Hitler Youth in the mid-1930s; his family's strong sense of German identity; and their growing sense of powerlessness as anti-Jewish measures increased.
Author/Creator: W., John, 1920-
Published: Peabody, Mass. : Holocaust Center of the Jewish Federation of the North Shore, 1992
Interview Date: March 11, 1992.
Locale: Germany
Mönchengladbach (Germany)
Cite As: John W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2269). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
Other Authors/Editors: Kenner, Samuel, interviewer.

Physical Details

Language: English
Copies: 2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Physical Description: 1 videorecording (59 min.) : col

Keywords & Subjects

Subjects (Local Yale): Antisemitism Prewar.
Nuremberg laws.
Crystal Night, 1938.
Subjects: Holocaust survivors. Video tapes. Men. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Personal narratives. World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, Jewish. Jews--Migrations. Citizenship--Germany. Jews--Legal status, laws, etc.--Germany. Germany. Mönchengladbach (Germany) Kristallnacht, 1938. Oral histories (document genres) W., John,--1920-

Administrative Notes

Holder of Originals: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies
Special Collection: Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies

Link to Yale University Library Catalog:: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/1093084
Record last modified:: 2018-06-04 13:31:00
This page:: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt1093084

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