- Summary
- Videotape testimony of Pierre T., a non-Jew, who was born in Brittany, France, in 1909. Mr. T. recounts serving as chief purser on the ocean liner Normandie in 1939; his capture at the defeat of the French army in 1940; escaping to join his family in Châteaubriant; shock at the execution of twenty-seven townsmen; obtaining a job which enabled him to issue false documents; and serving the Resistance as a guide for downed Allied fliers. He recalls his arrest in January 1944; Gestapo interrogations and torture; being transported naked (to deter escape attempts) in overcrowded boxcars to Mauthausen; difficult conditions there; aid from a French doctor in the infirmary; weekly selections to ease overcrowding; and having to gain the approval of the Communist Party cell to obtain a job emptying latrine barrels. He discusses his transfer to Melk, where a friend enabled him to become chef for the SS; being beaten for food smuggling; transfer to Ebensee in April 1945; liberation by the American Third Army; and townspeople being forced to view the camp. He reflects on his return home; telling neighbors of their loved ones' deaths; emigration to the United States; and the contrast between German treatment of prisoners of war and underground fighters.
- Author/Creator
- T., Pierre, 1909-1993.
- Published
- New Haven, Conn. : Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale, 1987
- Interview Date
- March 25, 1987.
- Locale
- France
Austria
Brittany (France)
Châteaubriant (France)
- Cite As
- Pierre T. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-836). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.
- Other Authors/Editors
- Kline, Dana L., interviewer.
Millen, Susan, interviewer.
