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Ralf G. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3119) interviewed by Cathy S. Gelbin and Vera Stutz-Bischitzky,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3119

Videotape testimony of Ralf G., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1919 to a Jewish father and Christian mother. He recounts his mother's death in 1921; his father's remarriage to a Christian; attending a Catholic school and gymnasium; his father withdrawing them from the Jewish community in 1932 to avoid communal taxes; his father's business failure in 1938 due to anti-Jewish measures; having to move several times due to anti-Jewish neighbors; draft into the German military in 1939; volunteering for the front; assignment to Zweibrücken on the French front, then transfer to Poland; never revealing his father was Jewish; release from the military in March 1941 when his parentage was discovered; returning to Berlin; working in a mattress business; assignment to forced labor for Organisation Todt in Zerbst as a half-Jew in October 1944; several privileged positions, including supervising nine hundred prisoners; several visits to his parents in Berlin; dissolution of the camp after an Allied bombing; delay in meeting his supervisor due to Allied bombings; arrest in Zeithain; transfer to Riesa; release; driving for the military in Zwiesel; surrendering to United States troops in Linz; brief placement in an Allied POW camp in Regensburg; returning to Berlin; reunion with his parents; and establishing his business. Mr. G. notes he knew nothing of atrocities and death camps until after the war, and lives his life as a non-Jew. He shows photographs and documents.

Author/Creator
G., Ralf, 1919-
Published
Potsdam, Germany : Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien, Universität Potsdam, 1995
Interview Date
June 14, 1995.
Locale
Germany
Berlin (Germany)
Zweibrücken (Germany)
Riesa (Germany)
Zeithain (Germany)
Zwiesel (Bavaria, Germany)
Linz (Austria)
Regensburg (Germany)
Language
German
Copies
2 copies: Betacam SP dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Ralf G. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3119). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.