Rene G. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3034) [videorecording] / interviewed by Robert Krell, April 27, 1983.

Vancouver, B.C. : Vancouver Holocaust Centre Society, 1983.

1 videorecording (1 hr., 59 min.) : col.

English

Videotape testimony of Rene G., who was born in Luxembourg in 1934 to Polish refugees. He describes German invasion; moving to Brussels; wearing the yellow star; moving to southern France; detention by French police in Poligny; transfer to a refugee hotel in Lons-le-Saunier; being placed in a deportation train with his mother (his father had left the hotel); removal from the train through the intervention of his aunt while his mother was brutally forced to board; staying with his aunt in Limoges (his father hid in Lyon); brief placement in a Jewish orphanage outside Limoges; staying with French families in Vendoeuvres; transfer to a Catholic orphanage in Pellevoisin, assuming a false identity; joining his father in Lyon; allied bombardments; staying on a farm in Chassieu; liberation by United States troops; joining his aunt and uncle in Villeurbanne; living in a Jewish orphanage in Le Bourg-d'Oisans; returning to Lyon in summer 1945; learning his father had been deported (he never returned); living at an orphanage in Andrésy; studying in Poland, China, and the United States; and settling in Canada. Mr. G. discusses the effects of his experiences, particularly the loss of his parents, and the many French people who helped Jews.

June 01, 2002

Oral histories (document genres)