- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Siegfried H., who was born in Germany in 1910. He recounts his father had one Jewish grandparent; his father's career as an Evangelical-Lutheran pastor; living in Berlin from 1917; being asked to leave a Christian religion class due to his "Jewish" last name; learning then he had Jewish ancestors and relatives; yearly visits from Jewish cousins; studying law from 1929; being ineligible to take final exams in 1933 due to his Jewish ancestry; his father's removal from his position by the church which led to his collapse and death; his brother's emigration to Denmark in 1935; receiving his doctorate in 1936; his fiancée's parents objecting to their marriage, resulting in estrangement; draft into the Wehrmacht in November 1939; marriage; accompanying his Jewish "aunt" to a deportation train; his son's birth in 1944; capture by United States troops in January 1945; and spending the remainder of the war in a POW camp in Plauen. Mr. H. discusses changing his name to a German one so his children would not suffer as he had; ongoing antisemitism in Germany; his career in government and teaching; participation in the German Red Cross; and writing about respect for all.
- Author/Creator
- H., Siegfried, 1910-
- Published
- Potsdam, Germany : Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien, Universität Potsdam, 1996
- Interview Date
- July 25, 1996.
- Locale
- Germany
Berlin (Germany)
Plauen (Germany)
- Cite As
- Siegfried H. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3724). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Bräuer, Stefanie, interviewer.
Priesler, Maximilian, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in German.
