- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Benjamin H., who was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1918. He describes his family's move to Belgium; his father's successful business in Brussels; attending school in Anderlecht; German invasion; his family's arrest attempting to enter Switzerland; arrest with his wife in the Pyrenees fleeing to Spain; internment in Gurs; his release through Abbé Alexandre Glasberg; obtaining false papers; joining FTPF (the French communist underground movement); his second arrest; torture during interrogations in Limoges; transfer to Compiègne, then Buchenwald; and slave labor in Gustloffwerke I. Mr. H. recalls his decision to rely on himself, particularly as opposed to religion; communists' efforts to help each other; learning of his son's birth; transfer to Hadmersleben, then another camp; evacuation to Lovosice; liberation by Soviet troops; traveling to Sokolov via Karlovy Vary; repatriation to Brussels via Würrzburg; a joyful reunion with his friends, wife, and son; and learning of the extermination camps. He notes he remained under his false name as a non-Jew in the camps; the importance of friendship to his survival; and the impossibility of resisting in the camps.
- Author/Creator
- H., Benjamin, 1918-
- Published
- Brussels, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 1993
- Interview Date
- June 15, 1993.
- Locale
- France
Poland
Warsaw (Poland)
Brussels (Belgium)
Anderlecht (Belgium)
Limoges (France)
Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic)
Sokolov (Slovakia)
Würzburg (Germany)
Lovosice (Czech Republic)
- Cite As
- Benjamin H. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2978). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Gausset, Claire, interviewer.
Grootaers, Christophe, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
