- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Paul L., a Catholic from a noble family, who was born in Vught, Netherlands in 1923, the eldest of seven children from his father's second marriage (there were three children from his first). He recounts moving to a castle in Belgium in 1935; attending the village school for two semesters, then boarding school in Tongeren; his family moving to Munsterbilzen in about 1939; his father's arrest for writing a letter supporting the Allies; sheltering Jews while obtaining false documents for them to leave for France; distributing anti-German literature for the resistance; brief incarceration; transferring to school in Louvain; returning to Tongeren; arrest on June 21, 1944; transfer to prisons in Hasselt and Liège for a few days, then to Meschede; forced labor digging trenches, then in a factory; sabotaging the work; contacts with POWs from several countries; leading prayers at night; helping a friend who had lost a leg during air raids; transfer in February 1945 to Wanne-Eikel; liberation by United States troops; repatriation to Liège a few days later; returning to his family in Munsterbilzen; slowly recovering his health and acclimating to normal life; and becoming a banker. Mr. L. discusses the importance of faith and optimism to his survival and the hierarchy in the camps. He shows photographs and a Belgian flag he made immediately after the war.
- Author/Creator
- L., Paul, 1923-
- Published
- Hasselt, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 2002
- Interview Date
- April 3, 2002.
- Locale
- Belgium
Germany
Netherlands
Vught (Netherlands)
Tongeren (Belgium)
Louvain (Belgium)
Munsterbilzen (Belgium)
Antwerp (Belgium)
Liège (Belgium)
- Cite As
- Paul L. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4304). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Hemmerijckx, Rik, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
