André R. Holocaust testimony (HVT-3225) [videorecording] / interviewed by Hélène Trigano and Claudine Drame, February 9, 1995.

Paris, France : Témoignages pour mémoire, 1995.

1 videorecording (1 hr., 50 min.) : col.

French

Videotape testimony of André R., a twin, who was born in Lyon, France in 1924, one of four children. Mr. R. recounts his mother was Jewish and his father the child of a Jew and Christian; living in Paris; German occupation; being sent with his twin brother to live with a Christian family in Lyon in 1942; his parents and sisters joining them; his father's arrest in May 1943 for Resistance work (he never saw him again); his Resistance activities; arrest with his family in May 1944; incarceration in Montluc prison; transfer to Drancy in June; deportation in July to Auschwitz/Birkenau; separation from his mother and sisters (only one sister survived); transfer with his brother to Buna/Monowitz; slave labor outside the camp; local Poles giving them food; singing French songs to raise their spirits; brief hospitalization for surgery; a public hanging; a death march, with his brother, in January 1945 to Gleiwitz; traveling in open railcars to Buchenwald; contracting dysentery; liberation; hospitalization in Germany and Nancy; reunion with his sister; living in Paris; and he and his siblings marrying and having children immediately to start new lives. Mr. R. discusses relations between nationality groups in concentration camps; nightmares and obsessions resulting from his experiences; not discussing his experiences with his wife, children, or siblings; and his strong Jewish identity, despite lack of belief. He displays his paintings depicting his experiences and notes the therapeutic effects of having done them.

June 01, 2002

André R. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3225). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

André R. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-3225). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)

Artists.