Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Henri S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2542) interviewed by Joni-Sue Blinderman,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2542

Videotape testimony of Henri S., who was born in Aurich, Germany, the younger of two children. He recalls his family's orthodoxy; moving to Norden around 1935; attending a Jewish school; anti-Jewish restrictions; his father's deportation to Buchenwald and his grandfather's arrest on Kristallnacht; their release; smuggling themselves to Brussels via Aachen; German invasion in 1940; hiding with non-Jews during round-ups; his parents contacting the underground to hide him and his sister; placement with a farmer in Grendel; hearing from his sister through a priest (he did not know where she was); each of his parents visiting once; learning they had been deported (he never saw them again); working on the farm; being moved when exposure was threatened; a farmer in Post hiding him, other Jews, and escaped Soviet POWs; bombings during the Battle of the Bulge; arrival of United States troops; hiding when the Germans returned; liberation; living with a non-Jewish family in Arlon; contact with his sister; moving to Brussels; placement in orphanages; a group bar mitzvah with other boys whose bar mitzvahs had not occurred because they were in hiding; his sister's marriage; emigrating in 1947 to join an uncle in the United States; military service; becoming a watchmaker; marriage; and the births of two daughters. Mr. S. discusses the Belgian effort to help Jews, particularly children, and attending a Hidden Children conference.

Author/Creator
S., Henri, 1929-
Published
New York, N.Y. : A Living Memorial to the Holocaust-Museum of Jewish Heritage, 1993
Interview Date
February 24, 1993.
Locale
Belgium
Germany
Aurich (Lower Saxony, Germany)
Norden (Lower Saxony, Germany)
Aachen (Germany)
Brussels (Belgium)
Grendel (Belgium)
Post (Belgium)
Arlon (Belgium)
Language
English
Copies
3 copies: 3/4 in. dub; Betacam SP restoration master; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Henri S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2542). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.