- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Shlomo P., who was born in Peine, Germany in 1925. He recalls cordial relations with non-Jews until 1933; expulsion from school after the Nuremberg laws; the family's move to Łódź in 1936; German invasion; fleeing to the Soviet Union with one brother; their separation; placement in an orphanage in Hrodna; draft into the Soviet military; capture by Germans in 1941; identifying himself as a Volksdeutsche while waiting in line to be shot in a mass killing; working as a translator/interrogator for the German 12th Armored Division; interrogating Stalin's son, Iakob Juġas̆vili; advancing toward Moscow, then Leningrad; sexual assault by an officer; friendship with him; revealing he was Jewish; the officer saving his life during the siege of Leningrad; the officers's death at Schlisselʹburg; transfer from Tallinn to Berlin, then a Hitler-Jugend school in Braunschweig; a parade in his honor; antisemitic Nazi propaganda in the curricula; constant fear of discovery; supportive friendship with a friend's mother, whom he told he was Jewish; visiting the Łódź ghetto on vacation in 1943, hoping to see his family (he did not); military conscription in 1944; liberation by United States troops; returning to Braunschweig; ending his double life; and reunion with his brothers. Mr. P. discusses his identity confusion and conflicted loyalty while posing as a German and recurrent nightmares.
- Author/Creator
- P., Shlomo, 1925-
- Published
- Ramat Aviv, Israel : Beth Hatefutsoth, Nahum Goldman Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, 1984
- Interview Date
- June 1, 1984.
- Locale
- Poland
Łódź
Soviet Union
Germany
Peine (Germany)
Braunschweig (Germany)
Hrodna (Belarus)
Shlisselʹburg (Russia)
Berlin (Germany)
Łódź (Poland)
Saint Petersburg (Russia)
Tallinn (Estonia)
- Cite As
- Shlomo P. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1064). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Choshen, Dina, interviewer.
Adler, Raya, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in Hebrew.
Related publication: Europa, Europa / Solomon Perel ; translated from the German by Margot Bettauer Dembo. -- New York : Wiley in association with the United States Holocaust Museum, c1997.
Related publication: Europa, Europa / Films du losange, CCC Filmkunst Gmbh, Perspektywa Film Unit ; director and screenwriter, Agnieszka Holland ; producers, Artur Brauner and Margaret Menegoz. -- France : Films du losange, c1990 ; Germany : Jugendfilm, c1991.
Related publication: Europa, Europa [videorecording] / a film by Agnieszka Holland ; produced by Artur Brauner/CCC Filmkunst GMBH Margaret Menegoz/Les Films du Losange. -- New York : Orion Home Video ; distributed by Image Entertainment, c1992.