- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Gabriel D., who was born in Hradec Králové, Czechoslovakia in 1922. He recalls his father's death in 1935; moving to Prague in 1936; participation in Maccabi, a Zionist youth group; German occupation; his brother's and sister's emigration; his mother's death; living in a Maccabi commune; volunteering for deportation to Theresienstadt in November 1941 in order to be with his friends; overcrowding and starvation; deportations resulting in separation trauma; secret Maccabi meetings; cultural and educational activities; working as a gardener; participating in theater productions despite painful hunger; sham improvements for a Red Cross visit and Nazi filming; providing flowers for Eichmann from the garden; organizing a lending library; an unsuccessful attempt to establish an underground; organizing help for the elderly with his friends; contacts with Leo Baeck; keeping a diary (recovered after the war); and deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau in October 1944. Mr. D. describes meaningless slave labor; transfer to Gleiwitz; the death march to Blechhammer; hiding during the evacuation; being discovered; posing as dead during a mass killing; receiving food from an escaped British POW and Soviet troops; and traveling to Katowice, Częstochowa, and Košice. He discusses cultural life and organization of Terezín; his state of mind; the importance of friendship; and sharing his diary with his son.
- Author/Creator
- D., Gabriel, 1922-
- Published
- Ramat Aviv, Israel : Beth Hatefutsoth, Nahum Goldman Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, 1984
- Interview Date
- October 8, 1984.
- Locale
- Poland
Czechoslovakia
Hradec Králové (Czech Republic)
Prague (Czech Republic)
Katowice (Poland)
Częstochowa (Poland)
Košice (Slovakia)
- Cite As
- Gabriel D. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1082). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Beyrak, Nathan, interviewer.
Choshen, Dina, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in Hebrew.
