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Oral history interview with Raoul Harmelin

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 1997.A.0441.84 | RG Number: RG-50.462.0084

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    Oral history interview with Raoul Harmelin

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Raoul Harmelin, born September 11, 1924 in Boryslaw, Poland (Boryslav, Ukraine), describes being the only son of a doctor; receiving both a secular and a Jewish education; his pre-war life in Boryslaw; life under the Russian occupation; life under the Germans after June 1941, including the pogroms, anti-Jewish measures, attitude of the local population, and formation of forced labor battalions organized by the Judenrat (Jewish council); a series of Aktions (roundups and mass murders of Jews) from November 1941 to 1943, and the murder of 600 Jews in Doly; how some Aktions were conducted by a German Vernichtung Kommando under General Katzman; how Polish and Ukrainian locals, Austrians in the Schutz Polizei, and Reiterzugpolizei, the Polish Kriminalpolizei, and Jews in the Ordnungsdienst all helped to round up Jews; the transfer of Jews to a camp at Ulica Janowska in Lwow (L'viv, Ukraine) or forced labor in local industry; how most Jews were transported to and murdered in camp Belzec; escaping from a roundup and witnessing the murder of an infant and a young girl; his father continuing to work because Jewish doctors were needed to treat the citizens of Boryslaw; hiding with his mother with the help of one of his patients; the creation of a ghetto, which was liquidated after a forced labor camp for Jews was opened in 1943; how Jews who could not hide were murdered or worked as slave laborers in the Zwangsarbeitslager in Boryslaw; working in connection with the war effort and having some degree of protection; getting news from London via radio and from an underground paper published by the Armia Krajowa (Polish Home Army); how an Ukrainian acquaintance hid 13 Jews, including Raoul and his parents from March 13, 1944 to August 8, 1944, when the Russians came back; his postwar life under the Russian occupation, including two arrests and escape to Breslau (Wroclaw, Poland); deciding with his parents to leave Poland after a pogrom in Kielce; staying in Paris, France, aided by HIAS; going to Sidney, Australia in November 1947; bringing his new wife and her parents to Australia later; his life in and adjustment to Australia after a very difficult beginning; his relatives on both sides of his family who were killed or survived; and the actions of non-Jews during the Holocaust.
    Interviewee
    Raoul Harmelin
    Date
    interview:  1992 April 26
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Gratz College Holocaust Oral History Archive

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    2 sound cassettes (60 min.).

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Personal Name
    Harmelin, Raoul, 1924-

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The Gratz College Holocaust Oral History Archive conducted the interview with Raoul Harmelin in Philadelphia, Pa., on April 26, 1992. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum received the tapes of the interview from Gratz College on October 17, 2000.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:36:25
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn508725

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