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Alfons G. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3434) interviewed by Raymond Kaplan and Margot Brandes,

Oral History | Fortunoff Collection ID: HVT-3434

Videotape testimony of Alfons G., an only child, who was born in Berlin, Germany in 1924. He recalls his family's affluence; attending public school; expulsion in 1935; attending a Jewish school; his father's death in 1936; Kristallnacht; his mother purchasing passage to Shanghai the next day for six months hence; non-Jewish friends helping them move assets out of Germany; departure from Genoa in May; assistance from HIAS and the Joint (their representative was Laura Margolies); living in the international settlement; meeting Horace Kadoorie to obtain admission to the school he sponsored; Japanese occupation; ghettoization in Hongkew; attending an ORT school; starvation and diseases; occasional jobs through ORT; the importance to their survival of their dwindling monies; an Allied bombing in which Jews were killed and injured; liberation by United States troops; working for the Joint; emigration to the United States in 1947; struggling financially; and marriage to an American in 1956. Mr. G. notes they did not know of events in Europe after they left and that most of his relatives were killed in the Holocaust. He shows photographs from a publication.

Author/Creator
G., Alfons, 1924-
Published
Mahwah, N.J. : Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, 1996
Interview Date
March 1, 1996.
Locale
China
Shanghai
Berlin (Germany)
Germany
Genoa (Italy)
Shanghai (China)
Hongkou Qu (Shanghai, China)
Language
English
Copies
2 copies: 3/4 in. dub; and 1/2 in. VHS with time coding.
Cite As
Alfons G. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3434). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.