Henri B. Holocaust testimony (HVT-2154) [videorecording] / interviewed by Claudine Drame and Geneviève Decrop, February 4, 1992.

Paris, France : Témoignages pour mémoire, 1992.

1 videorecording (3 hr., 20 min.) : col.

French

Videotape testimony of Henri B., who was born in Paris, France in 1927, one of nine children. He recalls their evacuation to Maine-et-Loire in August 1939; their conversion to Catholicism; his strong Catholic faith; arrest with his mother and older siblings on July 15, 1942; internment in Angers; his mother's release and father's arrival; deportation to Auschwitz/Birkenau with his father and brother; assignment to the masonry school; slave labor doing construction; learning his father and brother had been killed; remaining with French friends; hiding injuries during selections; transport to Oranienburg, Sachsenhausen, then Ohrdruf; once bringing corpses to Buchenwald; sharing extra food with his friends; escaping with assistance from a Hungarian guard, French POW, and German butcher; liberation by United States troops in April 1945; transfer to Eisenbach; repatriation with POWs; reunion with his family in Paris; their reluctance to ask him about his experiences; recovering from tuberculosis; attending medical school; a daughter's birth; marriage; and his other daughters' births. Mr. B. discusses camp life including intergroup relations and friends who aided his survival; losing his belief in Catholicism and identifying himself as a Jew after returning; sharing his experiences with his daughters; reluctance to share memories of suffering with non-survivors; and showing Ohrdruf to Generals Patton and Bradley.

June 01, 2002

Henri B. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2154). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Henri B. Holocaust Testimony (HVT-2154). Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, Yale University Library.

Oral histories (document genres)