Vernon L. Holocaust testimony (HVT-4513) [videorecording] interviewed by Joanne W. Ruof and Dana Kline, August 15, 2109.

New York, N.Y. : Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, 2019.

1 videorecording (2 hr.) : col.

English

This testimony is in English.

Video testimony of Vernon L., who was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany in 1923. He recounts moving to Düsseldorf in 1928; cordial relationships with non-Jews; increasing antisemitism after 1933; Hitler Youth attacking his Makabi ha-tsaʻir group; anti-Jewish restrictions; fleeing to London in 1936; he and his family receiving visas for the United States; emigration with his family to Detroit in 1938; attempting to enlist in the United States Army; being rejected as an “enemy alien;” military draft in 1943; obtaining US citizenship; serving as a radio operator in the 99th Division Infantry Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon; deployment in France, Belgium, and Germany; evacuation to to Paris, then Oxford, due to frostbite and trench foot; transfer to the Air Force’s Air Technical Intelligence; working as a German translator; leading a unit to extract German engineers specializing in rocketry; observing liberated concentration camp prisoners; and military discharge in 1955. Mr. L. discusses working as a lawyer that assisted former prisoners obtain reparation payments; and a sense of guilt regarding those “who really suffered.” He shows photographs and documents.

September 16, 2019

Vernon L. Holocaust testimony (HVT-4513). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Vernon L. Holocaust testimony (HVT-4513). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (literary works)