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Marcel W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2165) interviewed by Josette Zarka and Claudine Zumstein,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2165

Videotape testimony of Marcel W., who was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1922. He describes his family's move to France in 1931 due to antisemitism; participating in scouts and Zionist activities; working with his father as a watchmaker; German invasion; anti-Jewish measures; incarceration with his family in the Vélodrome d'Hiver in July 1942; walking out with his sister; returning, unable to abandon his parents; transfer to Pithiviers; organizing the children; deportation with his brother and father to Birkenau (he never saw his mother and sister again); assignment with his brother to the mason's school; his brother's death from a beating; and transfer to Auschwitz as a watchmaker with his father. Mr. W. recalls his father's selection for death; staying in the infirmary; his friend's assistance; non-Jews who shared food with him; transfer to a munitions factory in Zgoda (Świętochłowice); slowing down production; telling French non-Jews about Birkenau, and, through them, sending letters to his fiancee (he reads from them); transfer to Buna/Monowitz in November 1944; public hangings; hospitalization during evacuation in January 1945, eight days before liberation by Soviet troops; living in Kraków until April; returning to Paris; and his marriage. He discusses the differences between Jews and non-Jews in the camps.

Author/Creator
W., Marcel, 1922-
Published
Paris, France : Témoignages pour mémoire, 1992
Interview Date
February 17, 1992.
Locale
Poland
Warsaw (Poland)
Paris (France)
Kraków (Poland)
Language
French
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Marcel W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2165). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/1108266
Record last modified: 2018-06-04 13:28:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt1108266