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Victor Z. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3233) interviewed by Régine Waintrater and Michèle Ganem,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3233

Videotape testimony of Victor Z., who was born in Paris, France in 1926. He recounts his parents' eastern European origins; his father's communist activities; participation in a communist youth group; antisemitic harassment in school; his sister's birth in 1938; leaving school at thirteen to work; his father's military draft in 1939; German invasion; evacuation to Saint-Saturnin in June 1940; joining relatives in Les Sièges; returning home; his father's return; joining a communist resistance group; organizing demonstrations; his father's arrest and internment in Drancy on August 20, 1941; receiving letters from him; distributing pamphlets for the Resistance; joining FTP-MOI in 1942; learning his father had been deported (he never saw him again); arrest for attacking a Jewish collaborator; release; hiding with friends; obtaining false papers; assistance from non-Jews; obtaining false papers for his mother; ceasing Resistance activities; liberation in August 1944; joining the French army; demobilization in 1945; marriage; and eventually renouncing communism. Mr. Z. notes his sister was hidden by non-Jews; many Resistance colleagues, including Henri Krasucki and Marcel Rayman; and identifying himself as French, not Jewish, until about ten years ago. He shows documents and photographs.

Author/Creator
Z., Victor, 1926-
Published
Paris, France : Témoignages pour mémoire, 1995
Interview Date
February 11, 1995.
Locale
France
Paris (France)
Saint-Saturnin (France)
Les Sièges (France)
Language
French
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Victor Z. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3233). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.