Leo G. Holocaust testimony (HVT-158) interviewed by Dori Laub,

Videotape testimony of Leo G., who was born in Będzin, Poland in 1923. He describes his childhood in a poor and very religious household in Będzin and in nearby Sosnowiec; prewar antisemitism; and his education and work experiences. He recalls the influx of German Jews into Poland; the German march through Będzin in September 1939, and the abuse by Germans of Jewish inhabitants; ghettoization, forced labor, and anti-Jewish regulations; and his transport to Germany in early 1942. He tells of his slave labor near Gleiwitz and in Bunzlau, a sub-camp of Gross Rosen, where he worked in a sawmill for three years alongside Polish and German civilians as well as prisoners of war; the psychological state of workers in the camp; the literally unspeakable dehumanization; and the fortuitous nature of survival. He relates the six-week-long death march in winter 1945 to Dora/Nordhausen, which was a frequent target of Allied bombing; the horrible circumstances of the week-long transport from there to Bergen-Belsen; and the liberation of that camp. Mr. G. also reflects on the psychological effects of his experiences, including the loss of his family.