- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Andre W., a Catholic, who was born in Uccle, Belgium, one of four children. He recounts attending Catholic school; German invasion; fleeing with his brother to Montpellier; returning home; attending university in Namur; going into hiding after refusing to report for forced labor; joining the Resistance; leading sabotage operations and armed resistance (several Jews were in his unit); arrest; daily interrogations and beatings in Avenue Louise, his worst memory; transfer a week later to St. Gilles; identifying a Jewish prisoner as a Resistant, thus saving him from deportation as a Jew; transfer to Breendonk, then three days later to Buchenwald in May 1944; prisoners from Breendonk killing a Belgian who had been very cruel; assignment to work in the hospital in the “small camp”; adapting to being surrounded by death; forming a group with other Belgians; arrival of prisoners from eastern camps who were frozen and starved to death; liberation in April 1945; repatriation in May; treatment for tuberculosis for two years; and completing his medical studies. Mr. W. discusses his fear of providing information leading to the deaths of others when he was tortured; the social order in concentration camps; first sharing his experiences with his children when they visited Buchenwald in the 1970s; and later visiting Breendonk with his grandchildren.
- Author/Creator
- W., André, 1923-
- Published
- Brussels, Belgium : Fondation Auschwitz, 2002
- Interview Date
- May 23 and June 5, 2002.
- Locale
- Belgium
Uccle (Belgium)
Namur (Belgium)
Montpellier (France)
- Cite As
- André W. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-4306). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Thanassekos, Yannis, interviewer.
Crema, Sophie, interviewer.
- Notes
-
This testimony is in French.
