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Kurt H. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2454) interviewed by David Krakow and Nat Arkin,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2454

Videotape testimony of Kurt H., who was born in a small town in Germany in 1928. He recalls that his was the only Jewish family in town; being protected by the townspeople on Kristallnacht; people from another town destroying the family's property; their move to Cologne in 1939; deportation to the Rīga ghetto; working for the ghetto commander; the sadistic behavior of the commander; the importance to their survival of sharing smuggled food and clothing; deportation by boat with his father and siblings to Stutthof on Yom Kippur 1944 (his mother remained in Rīga); separation from his sister; his father's death, which is too difficult for him to discuss; and liberation in March 1945 near Danzig by Soviet troops. Mr. H. describes a Soviet-Jewish physician who cared for his brothers; traveling to Poland seeking information about other family members; learning of his sister's death; fleeing with his brothers to Berlin; learning from American relatives that their mother was in Sweden; and emigration to Sweden, then the United States. He discusses the kindness of Americans and his appreciation of the United States.

Author/Creator
H., Kurt, 1928-
Published
Mahwah, N.J. : Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 1992
Interview Date
July 15, 1992.
Locale
Latvia
Rīga
Germany
Cologne (Germany)
Berlin (Germany)
Sweden
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Kurt H. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2454). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/1096660
Record last modified: 2018-05-29 11:58:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt1096660