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Alfred S. Holocaust testimony (HVT-354) interviewed by Sally Weinberg,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-354

Videotape testimony of Alfred S., who was born in Vienna, Austria, in approximately 1913. He recounts his father's death in 1925; working with his mother; pervasive antisemitism; deportation to Dachau; forced labor; observing Jewish holidays; transfer to Buchenwald six months later; release due to his future wife obtaining a ticket for Shanghai; selling his ticket because he would not leave his future wife; marriage; emigration to Milan; leaving for Palestine from Sicily; arrival in Banghāzī; incarceration under Italian occupation; being returned to Italy; imprisonment in Naples; transfer to Ferramonti; benign conditions; release; moving to Cortona; his son's birth; reporting twice daily to the police for three years; German invasion; liberation by the Jewish Brigade of the British Army; living in a refugee camp at the Cinecittà movie studio; learning of family deaths from the Red Cross; receiving assistance from clerics in Vatican City; their second child's birth, illness, and death; working in an UNRRA camp; emigration to Bolivia; living in Sucre and La Paz; and emigration to the United States in 1951. Mr. S. discusses his guilt for having left his mother (she did not survive) and writing about his experiences for his son.

Author/Creator
S., Alfred, 1913?-
Published
Cleveland, Ohio : National Council of Jewish Women, Holocaust Archive Project, 1984
Interview Date
July 23, 1984.
Locale
Austria
Vienna (Austria)
Milan (Italy)
Sicily (Italy)
Banghāzī (Libya)
Cortona (Italy)
Vatican City
Sucre (Bolivia)
La Paz (Bolivia)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Alfred S. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-354). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.