André U. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2675) interviewed by John Barzman and Claudine Drame

Videotape testimony of André U., who was born in Besançon, France in 1914, the youngest of five children. He recalls his family's strong Jewish identity and French patriotism; antisemitic harassment; attending law school in Dijon in 1934, then finishing in Paris in 1937; enlisting in the military; postings to several locations; retreating when the Germans invaded; capture as a prisoner of war; escaping to Besançon; traveling to Paris; joining his family in the unoccupied zone in Lyon; joining the Francs-tireurs resistance; creating false papers for others; attending a reunion of his military unit in 1942; his election as vice-president; bringing his parents to Ennezat to prevent their deportation; capture as a Resistant; imprisonment in Montpellier; transfer to Compiègne, then two days later to the Jewish section where conditions were much worse; transfer to Drancy; attending Jewish services; saving women from deportation by replacing their identity cards; participating in building an escape tunnel; not being caught with the other “builders,” most of whom were deported; organizing to bring extra food into the camp; serious health issues; transfer to a hospital in May 1944; planning to blow up a train with his nephew; obtaining explosive chemicals from the hospital; learning his nephew had been killed; and returning to Drancy immediately prior to its liberation.