- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Andre B., who was born in Częstochowa, Poland in 1925. He recounts his family's move to Antwerp in 1929; joining a Jewish socialist youth group; attending public school; fleeing with his family toward France during the German invasion; encountering German forces; returning home; Resistance activities; his father's orders to report for forced labor (he never saw him again); deportation with his mother and sister to Malines; three days later their deportation by passenger train; orders to leave the train at Cosel (he never saw his mother or sister again); transfer to Klein Mangersdorf, Babitz, then Trzebinia; slave labor on railroads from which scars remain; relocation to the Chrzanów ghetto for one day for camp disinfection; assistance from the ghetto residents; severe depression; transfer to Annaberg, then Blechammer; public executions; two German guards allowing them to rest; receiving socks from British POWs which saved his life; a death march to Gross-Rosen in January 1945; train transport to Buchenwald; assistance from a French prisoner; liberation by United States troops; placement in Weimar by the Red Cross; repatriation to Brussels in May; reunion with a cousin; marriage; living in Poland for five years; and emigration to Paris in 1958. Mr. B. discusses relations between prisoner groups in the camps; the importance of being with friends to his survival; his lost childhood; and sharing his experiences with those who ask, including his children.
- Author/Creator
- B., André, 1925-
- Published
- Paris, France : Témoignages pour mémoire, 1994
- Interview Date
- March 16, 1994.
- Locale
- Belgium
Poland
Chrzanów
Częstochowa (Poland)
Antwerp (Belgium)
Brussels (Belgium)
Weimar (Thuringia, Germany)
- Cite As
- André B. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2842). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Wieviorka, Annette, interviewer.
Puttermilec, Huguette, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
