- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Werner K., who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1919. Mr. K. recalls attending school; expulsion after passage of the Nuremberg laws; futile attempts to emigrate with his brother, legally and illegally; the destruction of Jewish businesses on Kristallnacht eliminating work opportunities; doing manual labor; his parents' deportation to the Łódź ghetto in October 1941; joining them weeks later; volunteering with his brother to leave the ghetto; transfer to Rawitsch; slave labor; public hangings; his brother's death from a beating; transfer to Auschwitz/Birkenau in 1943; being selected for gassing; hiding in a hole for fourteen days; taking the coat of a gassed prisoner and joining his group; discovery; being sent to the punishment block; transfer to Sachsenhausen; hospitalization for typhus; transfer to Buchenwald; liberation by United States troops; the Americans compelling locals to visit the camp; returning to Berlin; seeking Red Cross assistance to find surviving relatives (there were none); marriage; and his son's birth. Mr. K. discusses details of camp life, including the hierarchy; believing he would not survive, but at the same time, not losing hope; discussions in camp noting no one would ever believe their experiences if they survived; not sharing his experiences, particularly with his son; a recent visit to Auschwitz/Birkenau; recurring nightmares; and his continuing sense of belonging in Germany. He shows photographs.
- Author/Creator
- K., Werner, 1919-
- Published
- Potsdam, Germany : Moses Mendelsohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien, Universität Potsdam, 1995
- Interview Date
- June 14, 1995.
- Locale
- Poland
Łódź
Germany
Berlin (Germany)
- Cite As
- Werner K. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3120). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Bauer, Eva, interviewer.
Leo, Annette, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in German.
