- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Philip V., who was born in France in 1929. He describes his assimilated family life and strong French identity; attending schools in Vaucresson and Neuilly; his father's death; German invasion in May 1940, fleeing with his family to Les Sables-d'Olonne; their return to Paris months later; fleeing to the unoccupied zone in 1941; living in Bagnères-de-Luchon; his Jewish education and identity formation by Mila Racine; hearing of rounds-up of Jews; fleeing to Italian-occupied Nice, then to Aix-les-Bains two months later in early 1943; denouncement in December 1943; his family negotiating who would be deported (they still had gold); their decision that he would be deported to Drancy, instead of his grandfather, with his mother, two uncles, and one aunt (another aunt and cousins remained); their deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau three weeks later; transfer with his uncles to Monowitz; a kapo taking his good shoes (his uncle was beaten trying to help him); slave labor; hospitalization; his uncles bringing him extra food; a privileged position when he recovered due to his uncles' intervention; evacuation in January 1945; a brief stay in Gleiwitz; transport in open freight cars to Buchenwald; Czechs throwing them food from overpasses; brief transfer to another camp, then back to Buchenwald; and liberation by United States troops.
Mr. V. recounts transfer to Erfurt; returning to Paris; assistance from the Red Cross; reunion with his mother and other relatives (one uncle did not return); brief French military service (he was released as a survivor); emigration to the United States; draft into the U.S. military; serving in Germany, then France; attending university on the G.I. bill; and returning to France. He discusses relations between prisoner groups in camps (national and political); his feelings about being chosen for deportation instead of his grandfather; recurring nightmares; and sharing his story with his children and other young people.
- Author/Creator
- V., Philip, 1929-
- Published
- Paris, France : Témoignages pour mémoire, 1994
- Interview Date
- March 10, 1994.
- Locale
- France
Paris (France)
Vaucresson (France)
Neuilly-sur-Marne (France)
Les Sables-d'Olonne (France)
Bagnères-de-Luchon (France)
Nice (France)
Aix-les-Bains (France)
Erfurt (Germany)
United States
- Cite As
- Philip V. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2851). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Borlant, Henri, interviewer.
Wieviorka, Annette, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.