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Tibor G. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2882) interviewed by Lawrence L. Langer,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2882

Videotape testimony of Tibor G., who was born in Debrecen, Hungary in 1923. He recalls his family's strong Hungarian identity; attending public and Jewish schools; anti-Jewish laws beginning in 1938, which precluded his university attendance; apprenticing to an upholsterer; German occupation in March 1944; confiscation of the family business; draft into a Hungarian slave labor battalion in April; receiving a letter and package from his mother; a guard agreeing to accompany five of them to Budapest in December; entering what they thought was a safe house; deportation to Bergen-Belsen the next day; encountering his uncle, aunt, and five children which gave him hope his parents and sister had survived; rampant disease, beatings, frequent appells, and public hangings; selection for a transport; his relatives helping him to walk; Allied bombings; arrival at Theresienstadt; hospitalization; assistance from a prisoner doctor; liberation; return to Budapest with Red Cross assistance; his father bringing him back to Debrecen; learning thirty-five relatives had perished including his mother and sister; and leaving Hungary during the 1956 uprising. Mr. G. discusses the preoccupation with food in camps; the importance to his survival of hoping to see his mother; and wondering why he survived. He shows the letter from his mother.

Author/Creator
G., Tibor, 1923-
Published
Brookline, Mass. : Brookline Holocaust Memorial Committee, 1992
Interview Date
May 13, 1992.
Locale
Hungary
Debrecen (Hungary)
Budapest (Hungary)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Tibor G. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2882). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.