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Gabriel D., Sylvain D., and Danielle H. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2664) interviewed by Josette Zarka and Régine Waintrater,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2664

Videotape testimony of three siblings born in Paris, France: Gabriel D. (1937), his brother Sylvain D. (1939), and their sister Danielle H. (1936). They recount their grandparents' emigration from eastern Europe; their father's United States citizenship and their mother's British (she was born in Palestine); German invasion; their father's arrest in December 1941, after the U.S. entered the war; his privileged status as a U.S. citizen; visiting him; receiving financial support from relatives in Palestine; assistance from non-Jewish neighbors; applying to join their grandparents in Palestine; arrest with their mother in January 1944; incarceration in Drancy; a receptionist warning their mother to destroy their French citizenship papers and claim them on her British passport; their mother's efforts to keep them clean and fed; transfer to Vittel with other British nationals to be used in a prisoner exchange; receiving Red Cross packages; attending Catholic school; exemption from prayers; emigration to Haifa via Istanbul; brief incarceration in ʻAtlit; living with their grandparents; and returning to Paris via Marseille in 1947. They discuss adjusting to life with their father; varying perceptions of their experiences; their paternal grandparents remaining in Paris during the entire war; the importance to their survival of their mother's determination and British citizenship; and their close relationship with relatives in Israel.

Author/Creator
D., Gabriel, 1937-
Published
Paris, France : Témoignages pour mémoire, 1993
Interview Date
March 12, 1993.
Locale
France
Paris (France)
Istanbul (Turkey)
ʻAtlit (Israel)
Haifa (Israel)
Marseille (France)
Language
French
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Gabriel D., Sylvain D. and Danielle H. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2664). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.