Advanced Search

Learn About The Holocaust

Special Collections

My Saved Research

Login

Register

Help

Skip to main content

Jacques R. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1605) interviewed by Mark Jacobs and Bill Simon,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-1605

Videotape testimony of Jacques R., who was born in Paris, France in 1941. He recounts his parents were Polish immigrants; different versions of his experiences that he has learned from relatives (he was too young to remember); being captured; a Jewish woman taking him; his parents' deportation to Auschwitz (they were killed); his grandmother convincing the woman to let him go; living with his aunt; hiding on farms and in children's homes; his grandmother's and aunt's successful efforts to reclaim his parents' apartment after the war; living in a children's home from 1949 since his relatives could not support him; his strong French, rather than Jewish identity; and emigration to Israel in 1955. Mr. R. discusses anger and sadness during his childhood; at age eight, playing a game with himself that he made up called “gas chamber”; meeting an uncle in Paris in 1979 who gave him a letter from his father; and sharing his experiences with his children. He describes photographs of his parents and shows their names on a deportation list.

Author/Creator
R., Jacques, 1941-
Published
Dallas, Tex. : Memorial Center for Holocaust Studies, 1991
Interview Date
March 10, 1991.
Locale
France
Paris (France)
Language
English
Copies
4 copies: 3/4 in. dub; Betacam SP restoration master; Betacam SP restoration submaster; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Jacques R. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-1605). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.