- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Paul H., whose family moved to Belgium when he was one. He recalls their socialist leanings; enlisting in the Belgian army; posting to France; traveling to Rouen to escape capture; reunion with his parents in Vichy and brother in Toulouse; their return to Brussels; joining the Resistance in 1941; warning Jews not to go for foreign labor (deportation); actions against Germans; hiding Jewish children; orders to report to Malines with his family; hiding; his parents' attempt to reach Switzerland; his brother's escape to England; arrest; imprisonment in St. Gilles; help from other inmates; transfer to Malines; and deportation to Auschwitz in 1943. Mr. H. describes transfer to Mysłowice (Fürstengrube)); volunteering for mine work; aid from Polish workers; the guards' disappearance; Germans returning; escaping to a French POW camp; liberation by Soviet troops; traveling to Kraków then Lublin; repatriation to Marseille via Odesa; living with his uncle in Paris; returning to Brussels; learning his parents had been killed in Auschwitz; and reunion with his brother. He discusses prisoner group relations in camps; the importance to his survival of cooperation, friendships, and his spirit; lifelong decisions based on his camp experiences; and efforts to promote Holocaust education.
- Author/Creator
- H., Paul, 1920-
- Published
- Brussels, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 1992
- Interview Date
- June 2, 1992.
- Locale
- Belgium
Paris (France)
Switzerland
Geneva (Switzerland)
Brussels (Belgium)
Lublin (Poland)
Rouen (France)
Toulouse (France)
Vichy (France)
Kraków (Poland)
Odesa (Ukraine)
Marseille (France)
- Cite As
- Paul H. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1978). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Thanassekos, Yannis, interviewer.
Chaumont, Jean-Michel, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.