- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Josse L., who was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1915 to Belgian parents, giving him dual citizenship. He recounts living in Argentina, Brussels, and Rio de Janeiro; attending school in Vanves, France; vacationing with relatives in Ostende; his bar mitzvah there; completing school in Brussels; military service in 1936; opening a business with his brother; military recall; capture by Germans on May 28, 1940 (the Germans did not learn he was Jewish); learning his parents and sister had left for Brazil; release on June 11; reunion with his brother; reopening their business; anti-Jewish restrictions, including wearing the star; hiding Allied pilots; escaping with his brother to Marseille in July 1942, hoping to join Belgian forces in England; capture in Puigcerdá, Spain; incarceration in Miranda de Ebro; release due to his family's influence; meeting the Belgian ambassador in Madrid; traveling to Lisbon (his brother went to England); joining Belgian forces; he and his future wife organizing over forty escapes from France; returning to Brussels after the war; and reunion with his parents and siblings. Mr. L. discusses his career; lack of religious beliefs; identifying as an ethnic Jew and a Belgian; medals officially recognizing his war work; and cynicism regarding religion, politics, and humanity in general. He reads from his diaries.
- Author/Creator
- L., Josse, 1915-
- Published
- Brussels, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 1995
- Interview Date
- October 30, 1995.
- Locale
- Belgium
Spain
Montevideo (Uruguay)
Uruguay
Argentina
Brussels (Belgium)
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Vanves (France)
Ostend (Belgium)
Marseille (France)
Puigcerdá (Spain)
Madrid (Spain)
Lisbon (Portugal)
- Cite As
- Josse L. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4050). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Thanassekos, Yannis, interviewer.
Rosenfeldt, Michel, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
