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Alfred W. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2972) interviewed by Leo Spitzer,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-2972

Videotape testimony of Alfred W., who was born in Fürth, Germany in 1908. He recalls his family's orthodoxy; their strong German identity; cordial relations with non-Jews; attending Henry Kissinger's bar mitzvah; joining the family manufacturing business; serving on the town council; resigning after the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses in April 1933; helping Jews emigrate; observing the synagogues burning on Kristallnacht and arrest by a former colleague; incarceration overnight in Nuremberg; helping a rabbi climb into the train, thus saving his life; internment in Dachau; assistance from an SS officer, his brother's childhood friend; beatings and killings by SS guards; release in January 1939 based on his wife's pledge they would emigrate; meeting his parents and wife in Munich; traveling with his wife and son via Frankfurt to join relatives in London; his daughter's birth; and emigrating to Bolivia from Liverpool via Arica, Chile. Mr. W. notes he helped build a synagogue in La Paz in 1941, symbolically replacing the destroyed synagogues of Fürth.

Author/Creator
W., Alfred, 1908-
Published
La Paz, Bolivia : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 1995
Interview Date
March 29, 1995.
Locale
Germany
Fürth (Bavaria, Germany)
Frankfurt am Main (Germany)
Nuremberg (Germany)
London (England)
Munich (Germany)
Liverpool (England)
Arica (Chile)
Language
German
Copies
4 copies: Hi8 master; Betacam SP dub; 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Alfred W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2972). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
 
View in Yale University Library Catalog: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/4297131
Record last modified: 2018-05-29 11:47:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/hvt4297131